Be A Lifelong Learner

The hardest thing to do in life is to stand still. It's practically impossible. You are always either going forward, making progress, or going backwards, getting worse.

image: algetler.com

Everyone ought to be a lifelong learner. It is the key to becoming relevant and staying relevant. No matter your age, profession and social position, you have to keep educating yourself.

It is very easy to lose one's edge in this fast paced world. Things are changing constantly. What worked superbly yesterday suddenly becomes obsolete in a few months. To stay relevant one need to keep abreast of new developments in one's field and learn to use the technologies that are now turning old methods obsolete.

Fortunately, the best way to keep educating oneself has not yet changed for centuries and won't for many decades (or centuries) to come. Reading. You have to see reading as a necessity, more like brushing your teeth and taking your bath. It's no longer a hobby, something you need to have a natural likeness for. It is now among the league of things you have to do whether you like it or not.

You have to make space for reading (preferably) daily in your life. You have to read wide and deep. You should follow the news and happenings in your world by reading good newspapers and industry magazines/journals. You should broaden your mind by reading random books. You should keep your professional edge by reading study guides on the new technologies taking over your industry. And you should improve yourself by reading personal development books and biographies.

And you can start small. You should start from where you are with what you find convenient, and gradually expand your reading/learning. You don't have to make it a competition. There will always be people like me who can and often read over 3 hours daily. And there are people who struggle to do one hour a day. It really doesn't matter much in the long run. What matters is that you never stop educating yourself. You can incorporate other learning means you find more enjoyable -- watching educative TV channels, taking video courses, attending conferences and joining forward thinking communities. Just do all you can to be a lifelong learner.