Many of us give more priority
to formal education and less
to self-education. And that’s why the moment
many leave school, they consciously or sub-
consciously stop learning. Self-education is more
about accepting life as your teacher. That way,
you don’t stop learning.
Learning should be an important part of our
everyday life because true education is not just
about going to school. It is about personal
development. Therefore it should be continuous.
To create a better you, you need the wisdom
that life offers and one way to gain that wisdom
is to become a student of life; an intentional
learner. Here are ways you can achieve that;
Question Everything: Like I always say, what
you do not know is mostly connected with
questions you’ve not asked. Don’t just take
things the way they appear. As a matter of fact
most things in life are not usually all they appear
to be. Be curious enough to ask questions and
seek answers to them. Do not accept general
opinion or age long traditions just because they
are widely accepted. Challenge status quo. Learn
to dig deeper! As long as we are depending on
safe solutions, prejudiced judgments and fixed
ideas, our mind will be closed to discovering our
own truth.
Be Vast In Learning: One of the important skills
you need in life is learning how to learn.
Learning shouldn’t be limited to only your
academic discipline or occupation. It is
important to develop a broad understanding of
the world in general. Watch out for things that
interest you in your environment and even
things that do not interest you. Often times we
think we know only to discover that we don’t
when it matters. The solution to that is Read!
Read!! Read!!! All you can. Just keep increasing
your knowledge base with each passing day.
Don’t ever get satisfied with the little you have
known. Stay hungry for more. The internet has
made this a whole lot easier. If you are looking
at the right places there’s a whole lot of valuable
information and knowledge one can acquire on
daily basis.
Approach Issues With An Open Mind: Learn
to approach issues with an open mind and not a
bias one. Don’t assume you already know. You
can be wrong. Nothing suffocates true wisdom
like assumption. Don’t automatically assume or
conclude that something is the way it is because
you have always believed so or were taught to
believe so. Try to look at issues from as many
perspectives as you can and make your
judgments based on the facts rather than on
pre-conceived notions and prejudices.
Reflect More: Learn to take time daily to go
through your thoughts and experiences both the
positive and the negative ones. To achieve this,
you have to get into the right state and
environment. The truth is life is teaching us
every day; the problem is that we are not
mindful enough to learn. Look for the Lessons
there is to whatever you experience (There’s
always a lesson). Reflecting gives you that
opportunity to learn the things life has been
trying to communicate to you through your
thoughts and experiences (personal and non-
personal). It helps you learn from your mistakes
and empower you with great insights to create a
better you. It gives you a better understanding
about yourself and the world around you. Like
the great philosopher, Socrates once said “An
unexamined life is not worth living.”
Increase Your Level of Awareness: To learn
from life, you need to develop keen interest on
what is happening around you. Watch people;
observe events with keen interest. Don’t relate
with your environment passively. Get interested
enough to be a participant rather than a
spectator. Learn to live in the now by being
conscious of your environment. Let little things
that others would probably just shrug their
shoulders and move on without a thought grab
your attention. Often times we learn more from
those seemingly “little things.”
Learn From “others’ Wisdom”: I have found
out that every one of us contains a different
body of knowledge. What I mean is that you may
never understand something exactly the same
way some one else will likely understand it.
There are people who their experiences and
exposures have taught a lot in life. Many of them
may have learned the hard way. You do not have
to wait to experience all they have experienced
to learn what life has taught them (You may not
survive it all). When you come across people like
that, you do not need a sooth-sayer to tell you.
Listen to what they have to say. They are likely
talking from experience. According to Confucius,
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First,
by reflection, which is the noblest; second by
experience, which is the bitterest; and third by
imitation which is the easiest.” He was simply
saying that the easiest way to learn wisdom is
through others’ experiences.
Explore Your World: Be adventurous.
Sometimes we can only learn by getting
involved. As a matter of fact, we experience life
by getting involved. Get involved in meaningful
activities. That way you will find the opportunity
to implement and express what you’ve learnt
and know what works and what doesn’t. Travel;
meet people of different cultures. When you try
new things, you tend to discover some aspect
of yourself and life that you may not have
known. Learn to explore your world. It will not
only help you recognize your flaws, fault,
weakness, strengths, it will also help you to
constantly update your understanding of the
world around you. That’s what self-education is
all about.
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