If you have been with me for some time, you might know that I’m a big believer in self-education. In fact, I believe that it’s essential for thriving in life. Last week I wrote about the importance of having a knowledge advantage.
In my post about self-education, I gave four reasons why self-education is important:
- It helps you stay relevant.
- It helps you see new opportunities.
- It fulfills you.
- It increases your capacity to help people.
I also put a quote by Benjamin Franklin there: “If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
I’d like to know about your experiences in self-education, so here is my question for you:
How do you self-educate yourself?
Please share your answer in the comments. Thanks!
I firstly acknowledge my area of weakness or that area were i feel i have no knowledge about then i have to pick interest on knowing more so by that doing i am determined to know it at all cost. Mostly i pen them down and i also discover that a problem you solve by yourself with the help of nobody seems to stick to you forever than the ones someone put you through because while trying to look for a solution you tend to see one hundred ways why it can’t be done in another way. therefore i self educate myself by doing things by myself with the help of nobody.
I like the way you build your motivation to “know it at all cost”. Thanks for sharing!
I self-educate by listening to what others that are successful have done. I am a firm believer in following directions. If it works for someone else who is focused and successful, it will work for me. I also love to read books that are geared towards success in my genre, writing. So for me self-educating means reaching outside of my own box into others minds to see what works for them and then following their guidelines.
Absolutely stunning. Keep it up !
That’s a very good approach. Thanks for sharing!
I read a lot and try to observe myself. Self-evaluation is important. I use Jason Selk’s approach from Executive Toughness, this works pretty well. Plus, I often remind myself of Ben Franklin, who was an absolute master of self-evaluation.
Ah, thanks for reminding me of Ben Franklin as a self-evaluator! I’d also check out Executive Toughness.
Books, audiobooks, podcasts – and Lynda.com for technical stuff I need to keep updated at work!
I also have what I call an UnConferences at my desk. If I can’t go to a conference, but the material looks interesting, I keep the brochure and, as time allows, I Google all of the topics and the speakers and read what I can about what they’ve posted about the subject online. Most don’t get to be speakers at that level without a lot of free content readily available to read.
Your idea of UnConferences is very interesting. I also like Lynda.com. Thanks for sharing!
Networking as you never know the information you will receive. Sharing ideas with all levels of expertise as we sometimes forget what the simplest basics were. Searching on the Internet aND the competition if there is any.
I like your idea of networking as a way to self-educate yourself. Sharing ideas as you mentioned is also useful. Thanks!
Great question! I watch You tubes from coaching leaders like Lewis Howes, take topic online courses from “Coursera”, and once a week I love to browse magazines and books at the local library. Plus love your emails, so uplifting!
Thanks for the kind words, Megan! Glad you like the emails 🙂
edEX, Coursera and other online courses from universities like Stanford. Also reading books.
Coursera and others are great learning resources. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Donald,
I self educate myself mostly with reading books, I always carry my kindle everywhere I go. Apart from that I also subscribe to many blogs and podcasts in the topic of my interest. Sometimes I also join online course or paid live workshop.
Thanks for the question.. and happy learning!
Hi David,
What a surprise to see you here 🙂 I’m a fan of reading books myself. But I might need to invest more in online courses or live workshop as you do.
Thanks for stopping by!