Take Charge of Your Lifelong Learning
I’ve long been attracted to the idea that life is a journey. This is the reason why I chose to name this blog “The Pursuit,” and why I chose the title “The Never-Ending Pursuit” for my first book. While it’s easy for us to comprehend tasks on a checklist with a clear ending point, many of our most important functions in life do not function this way.
Perhaps the best example of this concept is the act of learning. It’s ironic to me that some people call doctoral degrees “terminal” degrees. The intent is to communicate that this is the most prestigious degree you can earn in a particular field, and not to say (as some may falsely believe) that somebody with a Ph.D has learned everything about a subject that they could ever need to know.
The truth is actually quite the opposite. You’ll often discover that people with more knowledge in a particular field have a stronger hunger to learn more than somebody with only a basic understanding. It’s as if the more somebody knows, the more they also recognize the gap between what they currently know and all there is to know.
We’ll never reach a point where there’s nothing left for us to learn, and this is a good thing. For starters, the act of learning provides benefits beyond the gathering of knowledge and information. The pursuit of learning (I’m sure nobody is shocked that I chose the word “pursuit” there) develops our character and our spirit as much as it develops our brains. It forces us to assume a humble posture, or a state of recognizing that we aren’t yet all that we could be, but have the potential to become more through effort and concentration (and lots and lots of prayer).
It also reminds us of the control we have in our own developmental journey. We aren’t static. We aren’t locked into a particular state of being. We don’t have to assume a victim mentality as if we have no control or agency in life. Instead, we can do the work necessary to move ourselves forward. We can set goals. We can grow. We can become capable of doing something tomorrow that we can’t quite yet do today, but it won’t happen by accident. While God might ultimately be the one who blesses us with the result, God allows us to partner with Him as co-creators and co-contributors to the process.
For this reason, we must accept the challenge to be lifelong learners. While it might require a degree of humility and vulnerability to admit that there’s still something we need to learn, it’s also highly empowering to acknowledge that we have the opportunity and the ability to make this decision for ourselves.
Practically speaking, this can look different for different people. With millions of books, podcasts, articles, classes, conferences, and many other learning mediums out there, there’s no shortage of options and there’s no one “right way” to learn. The specific path you choose to walk down doesn’t matter as much as the simple decision to do something – however small it might be.
My encouragement to you is to not wait to begin. A degree of effort is certainly required, but the rewards are significant and exponential.