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Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash
A few weeks ago, I saw a video of an opera singer, a 65-year-old man, who had learned a new technique. He had asked his vocal coach how to sing a particular style. Many people were surprised he still had a teacher. Surely, after years of having a successful career in the business, he knew how to sing? The singer commented that it was essential to stay up to date, to keep your technique up to par.
It’s easy to lose sight of this development. Our society is set up linearly: you go to school, get a degree, and go to work. That’s it. Why would you continue to learn if you already have your diplomas and you’ve found a job? In my opinion, you should never stop learning.
The Easy Way
Sitting back and letting the years pass by is easy. You’ve got your job, you watch TV, once per year you go on holiday to a warm location, and that’s it. I suppose for a large part of the population, this is enough. And trust me, when I had worked in retail a day from 7 AM to 5 PM, I didn’t want to go home and study for fun, just to improve myself. And yet…
Podcasts
I’m in the process of improving myself on both a personal and a professional level.
So I listen to podcasts to learn new ideas. One podcast I recently discovered is ‘The Art of Happiness‘ with Arthur Brooks. He’s a happiness scientist, and his shows are filled with tips and techniques to improve your life. He’s not just a self-help author, but he actually reviews academic studies and tells you the lessons he learned from them. I can definitely recommend his work.
Dr Jordan Peterson
Another podcast I listen to is ‘The Jordan B. Peterson’ podcast‘. This man is so erudite. He goes so fast I often can’t follow him, but whatever I do pick up is essential and usually sticks with me for days. I love his look at religion, also on Christianity. How it’s important to have a shared background within a culture. You don’t even have to believe in God, but the Bible’s stories show the values we hold important in our lives. How certain items and paintings hold value because they have been passed down through generations. Many videos of his are on YouTube, of his lectures, his podcasts and interviews, so do check him out.
Tantalizing Tales
Professionally, I try to keep improving myself too. As a member of the Medium magazine ‘Tantalizing Tales,’ I publish one story per week. This can definitely be challenging at times, but I do keep it up. Since I’m an editor for this project, too, I’m learning how best to phrase my critiques so we can create a better story together. For my role as a jury member for the Blogable Marathon, I do the same thing. I find it extremely important to read other people’s work and see what I can learn from them and how my perspective on their work can benefit the author. To me, projects like this improve both parties.
Website Improvement
At the same time, I’m also looking to improve my website. I’m looking to move away from WordPress and hope to migrate my sites to Jekyll one day. The site www.theoralsexproject.nl is already running on this technique. I hope this will give me more control over how the site looks and its security. It’s a steep learning curve, but together with my husband, we hope to accomplish it.
Never Too Late
Generally speaking, you can say I’m always looking to improve myself. And no, not seven days a week. I, too, watch television and play video games. But if that goes on for too long, I become bored, and I will begin searching for something new to learn. I hope this will keep my mind flexible and life exciting. After all, you’re never too old to learn.
Great post Liz – It is so important to challenge your mind as you get older in what ever ways you can. The brain is like a muscle and we need to keep it fit. And imo this should involve tackling issues that you are not always comfortable with. Jordan Peterson does this time and time again. He is an amazing speaker and appears almost enlightened on so many topics. What I really admire about him is his bravery – and I find you are a brave person too 😉
The other two things you mention here Ttales and the BFM – those are my two fave thing online 😉 and glad yo be involved with you on both 😉
May xx
I agree that Jordan Peterson is extremely brave, and has paid the price for his braveness already 😒 And yes, he does appear enlightened.
Thank you, and I think you are equally brave with all the new projects you start, May 😘
Sometimes I wish I can just be that person who wakes up, works, get home and watch television or read a book, and repeat it the next day. But I can’t be. It’s just not me. Ten years ago I graduated from a bachelor program, and by that time I have already started my blog. I keep on learning more, about websites, about writing, and also some other things. I need to keep on learning, it’s part of my DNA. Great post, Liz!
~ Marie xox
Oh Marie, I have literally wished I could find my work at the supermarket enough while I was working there. I lamented the fact that I couldn’t find enough joy and satisfaction with that work. I was lucky to have escaped it since, and still, life isn’t easy.
How good you graduated from a bachelor program. I admire how you manage to do so much work for your blog next to your day job 😊 None of us here are lazy people 😉
Oh I agree with you, none of us are lazy, or our blogs would’ve silently withered away a long time ago. And to be honest, the last year of my bachelor was the first real year of my blog, so the harder work was done before the blog really become a thing. But it’s true, I still have my daily job… I always say I am blessed with a high productivity 😉
Our world has become such that it will take a lifetime to learn, often refuting the knowledge and experience that was acquired earlier.
Well done on the self improvement trail Liz.
I’m lucky in that inquisitiveness and desire to learn are inherent in me. Doing post-grad research was probably the hardest in that it is a requirement that you come up with something new to your field.
In my professional life, ‘professional development’ was essential (technology was changing so quickly) and the professional association ran monthly seminars and annual PD workshop weekends.
In management roles in hiring team members, one of the attributes I always looked for was open-minded people that were continuing to learn – there was nothing worse than the ‘know-it-all’.
Now in retirement I am free to explore outside my ‘past life’, so my blog writing is moving into erotic fiction and a bit of poetry. I’ve dabbled in painting, doing a little choral work, but my fingers just can’t get back into action on the guitar.
LIFE == Growth, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, though physically we seem to peak in our ‘mid-life’. 🙁
An excellent post that once again convinces us that you cannot stop in your development.