A Lifetime of Learning

I graduated from high school 25 years ago this June (Yikes!). I have officially become one of those women who can say to a teenager, “I’ve got sweaters older than you.” And even though I graduated from college four years later, one thing that has never changed is my passion for learning.

Let me clarify. I graduated from college in 1990 with a bachelor’s in journalism. And that is where my degreed education ended. I don’t have a Master’s or a PhD but I still maintain I have never stopped learning.

I did receive my core coaching certification from Coach Inc, but that is the extent of my formal education. In my jobs, I have taken every opportunity to take continuing education workshops, and daylong seminars. Since I made a transition to training and development, those courses have helped me immensely.

Yet, there are learning opportunities everywhere. Talk to people. Ask questions. Watch educational programming on television. Read books, magazines and newspapers. Use the Internet.

All you need to take advantage of the learning that surrounds you is a desire to want to know more. As a ‘why’ asking child, my parents encouraged me to find the answers for myself. They even invested in something the old folks called, an encyclopedia, so that I could find the answers. I still look for the whys to this day.

Over the years, I’ve become a trivia nut because I just love to know. On my Blackberry, the most used app I have is the Google app. Every time I come across anything I remotely want to know about, I search my Google app for it.

A positive attitude towards learning not just opens your mind but it also opens the doors of possibility. Fan your flames for learning and encourage the children around you to do the same, it will be a gift those kids will cherish forever.