Happiness is growth. Yes, of course we get joy from achieving goals and reaching finish lines. BUT half of the joy in the finish comes from the learning curve.

The times in my life where I have felt the best were the times when I was learning the most. For some reason, once we became adults, we decided that learning wasn’t a priority anymore. This was a terrible decision. One that we can reverse right now.

I read recently that 15% of your knowledge becomes obsolete ANNUALLY!

If you aren’t continually learning new things you’re going to get left behind! So, being a life-long learner is not really optional anymore. You don’t have to learn and grow just to add to your mental collection of knowledge, you must do it to stay relevant.

I have found that there are 5 advantages that come from being a life-long learner

  1. Innovation – The more things you know, the more connections you can make, and the more innovative you will become.
  2. Improved Performance – As you learn more, you can face harder challenges. This will allow you to improve your performance.
  3. Mastery – Talent is not enough! You have to work with that talent and make it masterful contribution.
  4. Intuition – Once you’ve really learned something it no longer takes mental energy to do/recall the thing. You can use that extra brain energy to solve more complex problems and become intuitive.
  5. Holistic Thinking – Being able to solve the problem in and out of context and find multi-functional solutions.

If you want things to be better, you have to become better.

The easiest way to do this is by continually learning, growing, and developing. Always strive to learn from every situation, both good and bad.