Life Long Learning

Life Long Learning 

By: Christopher Robertson 

Every moment of life requires learning. From learning how to walk to learning how to perform taxes correctly. Anything that is retained in life can and will benefit in the future. Studies by John B. Horrigan in “Lifelong Learning and Technology” states that 74% of adults consider themselves “life learners”. But the problem with learning as a young adult is that many people believe that learning stops in high school or college. They cease learning new life skills, causing many to struggle to become better adults. But how do you keep an active mind and take invaluable information for the future every day? Do you need to cram articles, books, news, and podcasts into your brain every morning to gain information? There could be more accessible methods to grow your mind as an adult and continue to learn throughout life. 

What is a Lifelong Learner?

What is lifelong learning? Why is it so important in life to keep learning, especially in today’s world? Ideally, lifelong learning can be described as learning lessons and skills as life continues to see development and improvement in personal life. The number of skills that could be learned is infinite, yet skills that happen to improve a person’s life are more worthwhile and useful in the future. Said in the blog “5 Big Benefits of Learning New Skills” by Albin Morgan “It helps you get new and knowledge-based perspectives on the world around you. It helps you gain new experiences, trains your brain to handle a wide range of challenges, and keeps your neural pathways active.” Learning skills in life can alter the trajectory of how life is progressing. From learning how to cook a delicious meal for your family; To Learning how to complete an oil change for your own vehicle. But you do not have to stop there in learning in life. An example of this could be maybe a skill that could be learned is time management. Many people struggle with time management. But thinking as a “lifelong learner” and putting into the fact that this could be beneficial to be able to manage time better, you can try to start your journey into a new skill and improve your life. 

Becoming a Life Learner 

One of the most important steps into being a life learner is understanding what skills and lessons need to be worked on in your personal life. As said before, this lesson or skill could be anything that you can imagine or fathom into your life to see improvement.  

Making personal goals and plans that fit your life to master these skills and lessons is the best way to ensure success in arriving at your desired destination. Rearranging and taking time out of your day is key to being able to perform said skill and lesson to constantly see great progress. A notable example of this would be using time at the end of every other day to read and study how to grow financially in your life. 

Learning skills take lots of effort to perfect. Without effort, skills and learning lessons become boring and shift the outlook of your mission. This is also a good reason to limit yourself and spread out the time to learn so burnout does not occur in the process. 

Reflection

Being a lifelong learner is a concept that is important to all generations. Improving your personal lifestyle is something that is only beneficial in growing as a person no matter what status you have in life. Every person on this planet has something that could be taught to them. Even though most adults claim to be “lifelong learners”, I believe that Self-development should begin early in the teenage years to get the best results out of life. However, time is precious and so is life. Becoming a lifelong learner can occur at any time in life, whether young or old.   

Sources: Lifelong Learning and Technology by JOHN B. HORRIGAN

5 Big Benefits of Learning New Skills by Albin Morgan