I remember my university days when I was spending most of my time studying. Every student dream of the day when he will finally graduate and start making money. Through Primary, Junior High School and Senior High School and University, I had spent about 16 years sitting in classrooms, learning and preparing for the next exams. I couldn’t wait and break free. My mind was set on the day I will graduate so I can finally stop taking endless exams and start working. That day came and I was free from learning and writing exams. I can finally lay aside the endless volumes of book and concentrate on working and making money. If you can relate to my story as a student or worker, then your first step to becoming a lifelong learner is changing your mindset.

Develop a Growth Mindset

Learning doesn’t stop on the day you graduate. It is only a transition from formal education to the field of work. It should not limit your desire or passion to acquire knowledge on a constant daily basis as you did when you were a student. You must change your mindset from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

People with fixed mindset believe their abilities and intelligence are fixed. Such people may say am not good in math or I don’t do well in reading subjects. Such a person believes he is not a math person and so can never do well in math no matter how he studies math. People with fixed mindset will usually avoid learning anything new that is not familiar to them. People with growth mindset however believe their abilities, knowledge and talent can be developed through continuous learning and persistence. They believe everyone can get better once he is diligent in studies and persistence in practice. Such people are open minded and will like to explore new ideas, learn and improve on their knowledge and continuously strive to enhance their competence. They believe they can enhance their productivity through training, learning and practice, and will continuously seek to acquire knowledge whether or not they are out of school.

Always Read Something About Your Job Every Week

You must be a master of your trade. It is important you continuously seek to improve your competence and be more productive each day and week. You can do this by picking on a topic that relate to your career or business and studying that topic extensively for a week or two. Once you are done with your chosen topic you can choose a different topic and do same. You can also draw a topical table for each week to serve as a guide on which topic you need to study every week.

Read at Least One Book Each Month

You should have a resolution concerning how many books you need to read each month. You can begin with reading one book every month then graduate to a book every fortnight. Depending on your schedule, you can even read a book every week. To be effective with this strategy, you need to be disciplined and plan how you will approach each book depending on the content, size and your schedule. You should specify how many pages or chapters you want to read in a day, where you will read, how you will adjust your current schedule to have adequate time for reading, and how you will reward yourself each time you successfully completes a book.

Join A Book/Reading Club

Another great way to become a lifetime learner is to join a book or reading club. A book club will move you out of your comfort zone and cause you to read new book that you will otherwise not read yourself. It provides you with social environment that fosters open discussion and constructive debate on chosen topics and books. You spend more time digging deeper into each book you read and analyzing each book due to the fact that you will likely discuss it with other group members. There are several book clubs you can join online that can help you maintain a constructive learning habit. You can also consider forming book clubs in church, work or even school.

Become A Writer

Another great way to become a lifetime learner is to become a writer yourself. You can write a book, articles or start a blog. Every book or article you write will require you to research and read extensively which adds to your knowledge and wisdom. Writing makes the readers better as well as the author better. Writing regular articles about your career field, business or interest is a sure way to enhance your knowledge and build your competence.

Join A Free Online Course

Several universities are now introducing lifelong online courses that you can join for free. You will receive free tutorship from the same professors and tutors that other people pay in order to be taught. Renowned universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford all offer MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Such course ranges from Art, Architecture, Biology and Life Science, Business Management, Chemistry Economics and Finances, Education, Engineering etc. Most of these courses are self-paced which means you can learn at your own speed and time.

Nothing affects your ability to succeed like the depth of your knowledge. Successful people achieve success largely on the basis of what they know than merely on what they do.

If you want to be successful, you must cultivate a lifetime that makes you become a better person today than you were yesterday. You must constantly strive to enhance your knowledge, understanding and wisdom, for success is achieved first in the mind, before it is achieved in afterwards in reality.