Take Responsibility Over Your Education

A child usually start school at around 4-5 years of age and continues his education until adulthood. After College/University, however, many stop learning somehow thinking that they won't have to learn anything new once they've settled in a career.

This was certainly the path I was going to take having barely read any books in School/College... I was all but done with them until I was approached by a successful business owner who said "You're worth minimum wage from the neck down - it's what you know that will make a difference in how successful you'll be." and then proceeded to mentor me for the next 4-5 years. Needless to say, this encounter changed my life and my perspective on education.

The education system fails because it makes the entire process boring, at least it was to me, and ultimately doesn't instill a desire to learn from the student. Everything is pushed down your throat whether or not you have an interest in the subject and you come to hate the process never knowing that it doesn't have to be like that. 

There's actually a lot to love about learning if you take responsibility over it rather than take in whatever someone else wants you to learn.

I remember an encounter I had with one of my co-worker. He had a look at the book I was currently reading, which was on Philosophy, and asked why I would read something like this considering that it didn't have any, at least not direct, use in I.T. (I work in I.T.). 

My belief is that if you want to "think outside of the box" you actually need to know what's outside of the box. There's definitely value in reading materials from your field of work but don't be afraid to get out of that comfort zone. 

I've recently set myself a goal to learn about, what is widely considered to be, the greatest work of humankind. I have acquired such books as "The Origins of Species" by Charles Darwin (Science), "Human Actions" by Ludwig Von Mises (Economics) and a few books on "Alexander The Great" (History) just to name a few. To me, learning about our greatest achievements is both necessary and inspiring.