Limits on Learning

There is a great wealth of knowledge out there quite literally at our fingertips, but too often we let those opportunities lay dormant. You can download most any book in an instant and either listen to it or read from a device, or – if you are really old-fashioned – you can order a hardcopy, and Amazon will ship it to your doorstep in just a few days. Digital copies are oftentimes free, or available via very reasonable subscription services and hardcopies are about as reasonably priced as I can ever remember. In addition to that, you can watch lectures and speeches from nationally acclaimed speakers for free on YouTube. Elite lecturers from top Ivy League schools from the likes of Harvard and Yale post their talks as well. And you have access to all this without even getting off the sofa! You can get a fantastic education in almost any field of study, from some of the best instructors on the planet, for the cost of mostly effort and intentionality.

Yet I hear so many excuses from people who are unwilling to take advantage of this incredible and unprecedented access to information. What’s more, many of these limits are self-imposed. “I don’t have time,” one might say and then five minutes later fill you in on the latest Game of Thrones episode (yes, I realize the show is over, but you get my point) or tell you about the latest housewife to be voted off the island (is that a thing, do they do that with housewives?). The one that really gets me though is when people say they aren’t “smart enough” to learn or don’t commit to books because they “don’t read well.”

This is like saying I don’t lift weights because my muscles are weak. That’s exactly why I need to lift weights, so I can get stronger! Don’t get me wrong, I understand some may have a natural proclivity to learning and a seemingly inherent bent towards reading, but that doesn’t give the rest of us an excuse. It just might mean you read one book a month instead of one a week or ten books a year instead of twenty. But just like the guy at the gym picking up dumbbells for the first time, everyone starts somewhere, even if it’s the little five-pounders, you need to rock those nickels! Begin where you’re at but don’t stay there.

Ignore your own excuses and embark on the adventure of lifelong learning.

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