Principle 41: You Never Stop Learning

But at least you don't have to give yourself a pop quiz!

Do you remember how you felt about going to school as a kid? A few of us did well in school, but even then, did you really want to go (other than to play with your friends)? For the most part, we tended to tolerate (or maybe even enjoy) school, but could not wait for it to be over. Over for the summer, over for life.

As an adult, we look back and realize with a start that our childhood was the only time in a person’s life (other than retirement) when you had nothing but time to learn. Adults are busy with working a job, handling a relationship, rearing children, paying bills, planning life for the family, doing that second job, caring for that relative—WHO HAS TIME TO LEARN?!

We don’t have much time. That’s why we think longingly back to our clueless childhood state and think, ‘Man, I wished I used that time better!’

You still can.

We may not have as much time, but adults still have some time. Or can carve out some time from doomscrolling to do something more productive. No, not watch another Netflix series, something productive. You know, something that produces something. We call media usage consumption, not production.

So how can we be productive? How can we produce? What can we produce? Knowledge:

As we study a new subject, or just read an interesting book, we increase our knowledge. You can take a course at a school, or online, and learn something that fills in a gap in your knowledge. It could be a skill you need at work, or just something that tickles your brain. It could be a skill that would yield income, or just something that yields pleasure.

Life never stops teaching because life never stays still. Imagine telling yourself twenty years ago that people today can make a living as a “TikTok influencer.” You’d have looked at your time-traveling self as a crazy person. But it’s true, you can make money today as an influencer. Life changes, and to keep up you need to learn.

One of the cliches about older people I dislike is that they are not up-to-date on tech. I dislike it because as with most cliches, it’s mostly true. Older people, by and large, are the ones most clueless about tech. I notice it because my day job is to troubleshoot tech issues, so naturally I keep up.

I was in a conversation with two neighbor women roughly my age. They were talking about how thick their wallets were with cards (credit, debit, store). I held up my phone and said all my cards are in here. They looked at me and said, “yeah, if you can figure those things out.”

I thought, it’s in your hands, you are using it daily, why not take the time to learn the basics about this key device? But most people won’t learn if they don’t have to.

What a sad condition! Learning is enjoyable, and having new knowledge makes you feel empowered. Keep learning. Life keeps throwing knowledge in your path. Accept it and grow.