“So what did you learn about today?”
Undoubtedly, you’ve been asked this before: it’s the classic dinner-table question after a long day of school. Just because it has become a cliche, however, does not mean that it isn’t an insightful and important question to ask.
I brought this up because it just occurred to me that the question “What did you learn today?” is rarely reciprocated to the adult that asked it in the first place. Once you grow up and leave school, you’re considered to be a static, finished product. Like a chair. Or some kind of Ken doll.
I think that’s a big mistake.
Imagine a highly-talented programmer spending decades designing a new iPhone app, finally launching it, but then never releasing an update for it! The app might even be very good, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s accumulated years worth of valuable customer feedback since the launch. His audience, and his world, are now calling for a different type of gift from him – and he has no excuse not to give it.
The lifelong learner builds a deeper and more stable relationship with his environment; the adult who can’t be bothered has no choice but to cling desperately to the familiar, watching helplessly as his small corner of the world withers away.
To paraphrase Michael Ellsberg in The Education of Millionaires: “Just because you’ve left school doesn’t mean you should leave learning.”
This has been my guiding principle for more than a year – and to make sure I continue, I’ve decided to share the most profound idea, tip, or lesson that I learn, each day, in a new series called Today I Learned (TIL for short). You can find it on my personal blog.
Each TIL blog post will be very brief, even briefer than the average Seth’s Blog.
Speaking of Seth Godin, he’s the one who inspired me to do this.
The reason I’ve decided to make this kind of content is because today I learned “The real power of blogs comes from the fact that they can be as specific as you’d like.” (Seth Godin, Flipping The Funnel)
