How to Be a Life-Long Learner

Education is a life-long process. There are very few professions that can’t be enhanced by learning, whether you’re learning new research, technology, best practices or trends in your field; or new techniques on how to be a better coworker, manager, or problem-solver.

Outside of one’s job there are is a limitless number of topics to learn and study to be a better and more successful human, whatever that means to you. Topics such as personal finance, emotional intelligence, history and understanding culture, just to name a few, are both personally fulfilling to learn and can really enrich one’s life experience. I am a fervent supporter that everyone – literally, everyone – should be a lifelong learner. Find your passion and hobbies and learn as much as you can about them.

But learning outside of school can be hard. There are so many things to learn and topics to explore but sometimes it feels like there’s no way to obtain that knowledge. Sometimes you want to know more about something but don’t even know where to start and what to learn. Once you know what you want to learn, formal classes and education can be expensive, inconvenient, and don’t match everyone’s learning styles. But have no fear! No matter your age or lifestyle there are numerous ways you can be a life-long learner fo free:

• Listen to TED or TEDx talks. They’re free, usually no more than 15-20 minutes, and span a wide variety of topics.
• Find and listen to podcasts and audiobooks. These are excellent to listen to during your commute, while you’re cooking, during your morning run, when you can’t sleep, or really at any time.
• Check out your local library! I cannot stress this enough. In addition to books your library may very well have free CDs, tapes, movies, and audiobooks you can borrow. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, start by browsing by topic to see what’s available.
• If you live in a city, look for events you can attend with like-minded people. Look up relevant organizations in your area to see if they host any event, or keep an eye on EventBrite to see what’s going on.
• If you have a specific book or article in mind, search for a free PDF of it online that you can view without downloading. While everything is not online for free you would be surprised at what you can find online (Game of Thrones series, Harry Potter series, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, just to name a few).
• If you went to college, use your alumni credentials to log into your school library to access academic journals that otherwise require a paid subscription. 
• Subscribe to relevant blogs and mailing lists. I am positive, 100% positive, that whatever your interests are, from fixing up bicycles to designing websites to responsible investment practices, you can find a legitimate website that has articles and advice you can read about.
• Similar to above, find and follow relevant social media accounts so it’s easier to see articles and news as they’re posted. WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, and Slack are all a great place to look.
• Look up videos and lectures on YouTube. You’d be surprised what you can find on there.
• Keep a folder on your browser titled “To Read” where you can save articles to read, websites to check out, and other resources to keep tabs on.

If you want to learn about a general topic and have no idea where to start, or want to be targeted in how you spend your time reading and listening to, one suggestion is to utilize course syllabuses. Look up a degree program related to your interest (this can be at any university), navigate to the required courses, find a course relevant to your interest, try to view the syllabus online (you can do this at a lot of universities nowadays), and see what the required readings are. I do this all the time when I want to read a few articles about a certain topic but don’t know which articles to start with.

Happy knowledge hunting!

 

Photo credit: Jeffrey Hamilton