Why learn?

Indeed, why learn at all? We talk so much about education and all its associated problems, but we forget to ask what the very purpose of it is at all.

Do I go to university? Are we teaching the right things in schools? These are the questions that always get asked. But we might do what all great thinkers do, and think from first principles.

We might go to the core, and ask the question that really matters. Why learn at all?

There’s a quote about Warren Buffett, by his right hand man Charlie Munger, how he was still improving in his 70’s, how that was rare for a man to still be improving, or rather, looking to improve at the age when most others are ‘winding down’.

As a result, both Buffet and Munger are examples of, as my friend Athena Sayaka says, ‘nonagenerian baddies’. They seem to have extracted an incredible amount of value out of life.

So why? Why keep learning? I’ve asked this question many times, and been given many answers… to grow, to reach our potential, to become more…

I always come back to one realisation.

We learn to go on a journey.

The journey of being a doctor, the journey of being an innovator, or the journey to try and feel successful, accomplished…

Good or bad, it’s some sort of journey we’re seeking. But why go on a journey? Well, the journey is your life.

If your learning is your journey, and your journey is your life…

Then your learning is your life.

Are you ready to learn?