10 steps to continue learning throughout life

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Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Abigail Adams

Many young adults used to think that learning ended with graduation of high school or college. Nowadays, the growth of change in our world is so fast, we cannot just sit still. Obviously what and how much you learn will be up to you and your personal goals, but it won’t happen by pure chance. Consider a plan for continuously increasing your knowledge.

10 steps to lifelong learning

1. Keep an ongoing list of topics you would like to research or study. Keep this in paper or digital format, but keep it handy.
2. READ, read, read. And I am talking specifically about reading books here. Good books, classic literature, modern novels. Here is a great list from Leo at Zen Habits for a start!
3. Teach others. One of the best ways to really learn something new is to have to teach it to someone else. Offer to teach some friends to tweak their blog design. Want to improve your knitting skills? Practice by showing others how to do.
4. Take a continuing education class at your local community college or technical school. Many states have scholarship and grant programs that pay tuition at state schools.
5. Actively participate in a forum on a topic that is important to you. My husband is a classic Mustang collector. He has a 1966 Mustang. He is part of a Mustang forum where he can discuss design and restoration with others who love that kinda stuff!
6. Research your topics online. Be sure you read reputable websites. Wikipedia is a pretty good place for information. Blogs are also a great place to find information in a specific niche. Depending on the subject matter, be sure to check when the information was posted. It could be obsolete at this point!
7. Use social media site to find the answers. If you are looking for an answer on a specific topic, reach out to your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers or post a question on Linked In. We have a huge pool of knowledge to draw from!
8. Choose how you want to get your news. Do you want local news? National? Global? Choose what TV channels you want to watch, what websites you want to check daily, and what RSS feeds you want to subscribe to.
9. Set up Google alerts about topics that you want to follow closely. Anytime a new article or post is published that fits your search criteria, you will be notified.
10. Do something to keep your brain sharp. Playing video games, playing golf, doing Sudoku are some suggestions. Played Bejeweled will stretch your brain. Luminosity is a site with tools to improve your memory, speed, attention span and more. There are free games and then you can sign up for premium service if you like.

We homeschooled our 3 younger kids. (they have all graduated now) We did not do everything right, by far. But one goal we had was to teach our kids to love to learn and how to find the info they needed. I feel like we did a pretty decent job at that and that makes me happy!

What about you? What do you do to keep your brain learning and churning? What are some topics you would like to study?

This post is part of our 8 week Journey to Balance. You can find the other posts by clicking the picture below. Be sure to subscribe to receive posts by email so you don’t miss out!