Point blank, I refuse to believe that anyone is ever done with learning.
Even when we complete formal education, often we move on to informal education. Arguably, informal education is more rewarding than formal education, but maybe not as easily accessible. We are able to choose what type of informal education we want to pursue which allows us to have some agency over what we spending our time pursuing. However, sometimes it is often more difficult to find the right resources for informal education. Other times we just do not know where to start or how to structure our informal education.
The overall end goal of informal education is to build a practice of life long learning (LLL), but often we are faced with analysis paralysis. If you are not familiar with analysis paralysis, I found Asana’s community post on the topic very interesting – 4 tips for overcoming analysis paralysis.
Here I want to share 5 ways to integrate life long learning into your life.
Read the damn book (or book summary)
Excuse my language but if you are interested in a topic the easiest way to start learning about it is to read about it. There are so many resources these days that give a basic foundation on a subject. From there it is easy to build off the baseline and become more and more educated on the topic. I get it sometimes reading a whole book just doesn’t fit into your life. We all have commitments and other priorities and there are only so many hours in a day. So cut yourself some slack.
If you can’t read the whole book, read a summary on it – get the main points and decide if it’s worth your time to read the whole thing. I have been trying out Headway. There are also so many YouTubers who do book summaries – I am currently enjoying Ali Abdaal’s book club summaries.
If you can’t read the book, then listen to the book. There is nothing wrong with audiobooks. They allow us to ‘read’ the book while still being able to do other things (i.e. cook dinner, clean the house, commute). I listen to everything on at least 2x speed – this varies depending on speaker and topic.
Enrich yourself with YouTube and podcasts
I alluded to this before but YouTube makes for a great teacher. I am a firm believer that you can learn most things (at the most basic level) on YouTube. It is astonishing that the platform has grown into such a resource to the world beyond just entertainment. What I think is most beneficial when learning from YouTube is how the information is broken down into bite-size pieces. Additionally, the comments section creates a sense of community/classroom.
Some of the favorites are:
Podcast are also a great way to integrate life long learning and add another level of enrichment. One of the great things about podcasts is that it is more conversational and can often contain different perspectives based on the host or speaker. Through podcasts I have not one learned about subjects I was already interested in but I have also discovered new topics that I had never heard of before.
Look to formal courses for guidance
Even though we may be done with formal education does not mean there is not merit in formal courses. Meaning if someone has taken the time to come up with a course that includes some structure to your informal learning then you might as well take advantage of it. After all, they did all the hard parts – now you just get to reap the benefits.
Some of the favorites :
- Udemy
- Coursera
- Google Certificates
- Edx
- harvard.edu
These first three ways to integrate life long learning into your life are more or less traditional. They do not require you do really go outside your comfort zone, let’s change that for the next two.
Idea share
Truthfully, you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I know it is cheesy to say but sometimes learning by doing is the best way to learn. Meaning that maybe you’ll have to test something out in real life in order to learn from it. Case it point, I can read and listen to people talk about how they launched a YouTube channel all I want to. But I don’t really understand how to do it until I try it myself. There have been so many times where this is the case that I had to just be okay with putting myself out there for the sake a learning a new skill or learning about a new topic. Another excellent example is this blog. I didn’t know anything about setting up a blog but by doing it I learned a lot about what it takes and I also learned more about myself.
So when I say ‘idea share’ I mean put yourself out there, share your thoughts, make everything a learning process – and by doing that you will find (naturally) you are cultivating life long learning. Everything should be a learning experience – you should not be an expert right away and you need to share that fact.
Be open to nontraditional forms of education
This is where we get a little new age-y and I may lose some of you but education (especially informal education) has many faces. I don’t think you need to stay locked away watching videos and reading book after book. Every interaction whether it be in person or online is an opportunity to learn. Even when I am scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, I can find value in what I am consuming. Some it has do with cultivating your feed but a lot of it has do with having takeaways from every interaction. Hanging out with friends or even going to the gym presents learning opportunity. As such, I don’t think it is that difficult to build a life long learning practice, you just have to be open-minded and creative.
Opinions that don’t matter
For me, informal education is important because my mind actually craves it. I get stagnant and borderline bored if I do not feel like I am learning something, anything! LLL goals allow me to contextualize what is important to me. Now, I may not get to all my LLL goals and that’s okay! But it’s important that I understand what those goals are even if they are more for the future. You may be different and, again, that’s okay.
I like to share my LLL goals even if I don’t complete them. If you don’t believe me, take a look at my most recent monthly update. I like it for the same reason why I like pay transparency – it may spark a greater conversation or it may push someone else into action. Me helping you, is just as beneficial as me helping me. Let that sink in.