Cultivate a Curious Mind

“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.’ ~Alvin Toffler

If you are in your mid or late-career, then you can acquire new skills and/or enhance the ones you already have.  Also, you can try something new. You will find out easily if it is or is not for you. Taking courses and interactive education can improve memory and self-confidence. There is a lot of wisdom around, on every subject or question–tap into it.  Important… you can work at your own secret pace, and if you need to redo something, you can replay and review. Or if the course doesn’t go well, no one knows… (hush-hush…) But when you graduate you can tell everyone what you achieved!

The rewards of lifelong learning are yours. It is a chance to cultivate a curious mind—the more you learn, usually the more you want to know. This increases wisdom and builds skills and knowledge that you already have.  When you know, you grow, and this builds self-confidence. The world needs you so don’t think you are redundant!

There is more to retirement than movie channels or discovering that you really can’t golf (well) every day. What do you want to explore? You can feed that curiosity. One of the best ways to learn more deeply is to teach others. Could you be a coach/mentor?

‘I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.’ ~Pablo Picasso

Here are some hints that can help you get started:

1. Life is no longer short, but it is always urgent. If you could do something else for a living, what would it be?
2. You likely made a change in direction earlier on. What was your favourite school subject that you could now explore?
3. Perhaps you have skills that need updating or improvement. How can you begin or enrich a hobby or interest you have today?
4. All of us are tired of ‘fake news’ with no depth and unqualified commentary. Are there political, technical, or economic issues to hunt down?
5. Maybe there was no time to go to grad school. Do you want to complete or get new qualifications?

‘The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.’ ~Carl Rogers

Some of this must be DIY. Here are some good lifelong learning habits:

1. Read widely and often.
2. Keep smart company.
3. Keep a list of things that you want to explore.
4. Start your own project.
5. Find a job that encourages learning.
6. Stay in a personal learning environment.
7. Experiment with new ways to learn.
8. Teach others.
9. Join a study group.

So Long-Life Learning is not a disrupter, it is an enhancer. With a longer active life, the opportunity is now available.  Goforit!

Sources

3. The Emergence of Long Life Learning, C. Conley and I. Rauth PhD, September 21^st, 2020 https://longlifelearning.education/
4. Visual Capitalist, How Smart is ChatGPT? (visualcapitalist.com) Published 15 hours ago on April 26, 2023