Did you know that, 

• 33% of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives
• 42% of college graduates never read another book after college
• 57% of new books are not read to completion

All this according to the Jenkins Group — Fact is, Many people don’t keep up with deliberate learning after they finish their formal education. Sure, they learn things in the course of their lives at their job or through compulsory training. But to sit down and read a book, listen to audiobooks, or watch some personal development videos – forget about it! It’s just not that important to them. 

Today, I want to help you break the pattern of neglecting your continuing education. I want to give you eight good (hidden) benefits to get started with lifelong learning. I want to strengthen the “why” behind continual learning so that you will reap the often unsung benefits of learning after school.  

Lifelong learning may be the most underestimated aspect of personal development. Not to be confused with “continuing education” which is usually mandatory training that companies implement for their employees, lifelong learning is self-directed.

According to Valamis…

“Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal development. While there is no standardized definition of lifelong learning, it has generally been taken to refer to the learning that occurs outside of a formal educational institute, such as a school, university or corporate training.”

So lifelong learning is usually NOT tied to any formal degree. It’s also not tied to any compulsory learning at your company. No, lifelong learning is self-directed and owned by the person doing it. And I want to give you eight reasons you should start or restart your learning today.  

Lifelong Learning Benefit #1: Helps You Land the Job

The first benefit that comes from implementing lifelong learning in your life is that it helps you land the job. Getting a good job, one you enjoy, will involve getting skills. And those skills have to be picked up somewhere: enter lifelong learning. 

According to Walden University, “Only 15% of hiring managers say most job seekers have the skills their company is looking for. If you want (to) increase your chances of getting a good job, you want to be in that 15%. Which means you want to take the time to acquire the skills employers are looking for.”

So if you’re looking for a job and you want to have the skills to land the new position, you need to practice learning new skills — which falls into the lifelong learning bucket. Get new skills, get a new job. That’s the power of lifelong learning. So learn more to progress more.  

Lifelong Learning Benefit #2: Grows Your Self-Confidence

The second reason you should implement continual learning in your life is that it will grow your self-confidence. Have you ever been in a conversation when you’re chatting with someone and you have no idea what they’re talking about? In some instances, you may be talking to a technical bore. I wouldn’t worry about those situations. But in other cases, a little more training would have been helpful.  

Confucius once said, “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” 

Getting proficient in more areas not only grows your skills, it grows your self-confidence in those areas. That growth in knowledge not only helps your career, it also helps in your personal life and overall. So learn more, to be more confident. 

Lifelong Learning Benefit #3: Keeps You Current with Technology

The third reason to implement lifelong learning in your life is to keep up with technology. The world keeps moving. The computer science degrees awarded 30 years ago are nearly worthless with as much progress that’s happened since then. 

Personal development coach and author Brian Tracy said, “Learning is the minimum requirement for success in your field…Information and knowledge on everything is increasing every day. This means that your knowledge must also increase to keep up.”

It’s the nature of reality. As Tracy reminds us, we live in a world with ever increasing data so we have to continually learn to keep up with our field, our lives, and our spiritual condition. Lifelong learning helps us to keep up with technological advancements. So learn more to keep up more.

Lifelong Learning Benefit #4: Expands Your Horizons

The fourth benefit that comes from incorporating lifelong learning in your life relates to expanded life experience. Children’s author “Dr. Seuss” once wrote, “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

And if it’s true in a children’s book, it’s true for you. The more you learn, the more the world opens up to you. Opportunities present themselves that you would have never seen (or appreciated) had you not been preparing for it through continual learning. So learn more to live more.

Lifelong Learning Benefit #5: Improves Your Income

Another hidden benefit to lifelong learning is that it improves your income. Sociologists have long recognized the correlation between education and income. According to Borgen Magazine, “earnings increase by approximately 10 percent with each additional year of schooling.”

Admittedly, the education in this study is more formal. But the same idea can generally apply to lifelong, self-directed learning. When you learn skills that pay more than the ones you currently possess, your income generally improves. If you’re digging ditches and you don’t so much like that and you learn how to code and you enjoy that more, you’ll get better at it. When you land that coding job the opportunity to make more moolah increases with that skill – certainly more than digging ditches. So learn more to earn more.

Lifelong Learning Benefit #6: Keeps You Healthy

A surprisingly sixth benefit to continuing education is that it helps you stay healthy. Strange, I know. But there’s a strong link between learning and health. Part of learning is reading.   

The University of Stavanger has reported, “People with poor reading skills are likely to be less healthy than those who read easily…Literacy skills are important for keeping in good shape.” This could be because those who are actively learning things have more reason to stay well. For whatever the reason, the takeaway is simple: learn more to stay healthy.

Before we finish up this video, I’d love it if you could smash that “like” button — you can also click it. That tells YouTube this video has been valuable and will help spread it to more people so they can see the benefits of lifelong learning. So “like” this video to help out your neighbor on YouTube – and let’s move on. 

Lifelong Learning Benefit #7: Grows Your Network

A seventh benefit that happens as a result of lifelong learning is it grows your network. When you’re focused on learning new skills or sharpening your current skills, you will naturally look for resources on the subject. In your search, you will run across new communities, new people, and others who are seeking similar benefits from the additional training.

One of the things that I’ve personally grown from is masterminds. This is a small group of like-minded individuals who are aiming to progress in a similar direction. I’ve gotten to know some people closely who are talented, smart, and driven. These are people I would not have interacted with either because they wouldn’t have seen the value I would bring to the relationship or I wouldn’t have been on the same path to interact with them. Either way, those relationships were grown as a byproduct to continuing education. So learn more to network more.

Lifelong Learning Benefit #8: Aligns with Biblical Wisdom 

A final benefit to lifelong learning is found in the pages of the Bible. The Proverbs talks about lifelong learning and continuing education in several places. Here are three of them…

• “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance” Proverbs 1:5 (ESV)

• “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” Proverbs 9:9 (ESV)

• “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 18:15 (ESV)

All these passages can be mapped directly to the practice of lifelong learning. Solomon reminds us the wise should increase in learning, grow wiser, and get knowledge. In the wisdom literature we are not to be static and rest on a degree or a position or an accolade. We are to move on. Whether we are 30 or we are 90. Biblical wisdom demands progress in our learning. So learn more, to be more biblically wise.  

That’s it. Those are the eight hidden benefits to lifelong learning: 

Hidden Benefit #1: Helps You Land the Job

Hidden Benefit #2: Grows Your Self-Confidence

Hidden Benefit #3: Keeps You Current with Technology

Hidden Benefit #4: Expands Your Horizons

Hidden Benefit #5: Improves Your Income

Hidden Benefit #6: Keeps You Healthy

Hidden Benefit #7: Grows Your Network

Hidden Benefit #8: Aligns with Biblical Wisdom 

Takeaway: Watch The Total Calling Channel

So get started. I have a very practical, simple way you can incorporate learning into your daily schedule. It’s easy. If you’re not already subscribed to this channel, then subscribe.

My commitment with Total Calling is to explore personal development from a biblical perspective so you can become the person God wants you to be — and lifelong learning is incorporated into this effort.

Watching these videos is one small way you can incorporate learning into your schedule so you can start realizing all those benefits that come with lifelong learning. Listen on the way to work, or watch in your downtime as a way to get those cognitive juices flowing. Make sense? Now subscribe away!

All the best.