Be a Life-long Learner

Which background are you from? 

a software engineer piles up numerous lines of dull codes everyday? 

an independent media writer typing fleeting gossips from another world?

a traditional elementary school tutor teaching kids how to NOT use a smart phone?

or, just simply emotional and social isolated, already or will be at the "anxiety middle age".

It is obvious for anyone studies, works and lives in IT area, technology changes faster than what we can imaging and catch up. I assume that is one of the reasons I am always looking for how to learn more and faster, to be able to “stay at the same place”. 

Learning is always one ordinary and important part of my life, as meaningful as diet and sleep.

When I was a child, I could already deeply feel the Peer-Pressure in schools, in our big family and in the whole society. Study endeavor, know more and result with excellent grades, is the best way to earn attentions and reputation, not "one of them".

When stage switches from schools to the career life, keep on learning is one of the essential ways to stay safe and go further. Thanks for the high technologies, we will most likely live longer than our ancestors, which means longer career and study life.

But all these above are only external driving forces.

As for me, learning comes from instinctive curiosity of everything, the strong desire of all kinds of knowledges, the high passion of finding out the meanings of life. Learning is a core personal character, if one day we lost every other thing: wealth, health, youth, it is the only thing could still be left.

Define yourself as A life-long learner.

There are always a lot more to learn in workplace, products specialty knowledge, communication skills, leading and influences, etc. Besides of that, math, physics, psychology, brain and neuroscience, programming, history, philosophy and other foundation sciences, these cross-field knowledges give me serendipity ideas which make life bright and colorful.

Do you also experience countless challenges when you start to learn something new?

As for me, the first biggest challenge is Greediness. Learning is supposed to make life fulfilling and meaningful, not turn to be lost and depressed. When trying to learn everything, although clearly know it is impossible, absorption stops at surface, and becomes collecting rather than real learning.

I buy a lot of books, some of them are too professional and difficult, which are just kept on the shelf without even being opened once. I enrolled a bunch of on-line courses but couldn't finish them. Too much ambitious makes me tired, couldn't finish makes me more anxious, which steals energy and good mood.

Another challenge for me, is unconfident. Wanting too much didn't make real or obvious changes of my life, which makes me to question myself, if it is because I am not talent, if I am not good enough, if all these make any sense. It feels like I have already “Learnt” a lot, but I know those are only pieces and fragments, not systematical knowledge. I spent a lot of time and energy, but I couldn't explain or tell others what I have learnt in a clear and structural way. Which of course, makes me even more unconfident.

Is there an effective “Medicine” for knowledge Greediness? I would say yes. Learning is the cause, but also is the cure. 

Eager desire solids my faith about learning: it is all right to love or even be obsessed by learning; learning is not only about hard working all the time, there are better and even relax ways of learning because our brain has different learning mode; having a rest, sleeping, physical exercises are just as important as learning new knowledge and skills.

Greediness is probably one of the oldest human natures, it requires self-awareness, being honest, to admit and to accept reality and self-limitations. The more I have learnt, the more I could understand myself and could embrace the "greedy me".

Confident not only comes from the results, but more from our mindset: how we look at challenges and how we deal with them. Learning itself is an efficient way to change and develop mindset.

Life-long learning doesn't mean to put life into learning, but the opposite, put learning into our long life.