How To Be A Lifelong Learner (even if you hated school)

Most people stop learning when they finish school or university.

School gives structure to our learning for the first years of our life. But when we finish school, unless we continue to be intentional about learning & growth, we end up wandering through life, maybe reading a few books (if we're lucky).

But one of the best benefits of learning once you leave school is you get to construct the curriculum.

It's completely up to you & you don't have to endure any more boring subjects. You can follow your curiosities through life, lean into the subjects that really light you up and in theory - actually like learning. But it doesn't just happen. You have to create it.

How To Create An Intentional Learning Environment:

Choose Areas. Each year I like to choose a few areas that I'm interested in, need to learn about or things that just fuel my curiosity. Otherwise, I could go reading ALL the things and downloading ALL the books. So this just gives me some loose boundaries to explore.

Collect Sources. I have a huge list of sources I like to read from: Twitter, Medium, Substack, Glasp, Refind, and Kindle. Every day I choose something from these sources. I rarely read in linear order these days - I just choose what piques my interest.

Take Notes. Not just summaries, but take notes on what sparks you. What stands out on the page or the screen. Collect these up.

Use Those Notes As Thinking Prompts. My writing inbox practice is all about taking my notes & making sense of them. Take a few each day and muddle over them, write about them, and connect them to what you already know.

This is how you build an environment where you are constantly learning & building knowledge.