When I was a junior in college, my roommate Andrew was a senior and preparing to graduate. Shortly before he finished school, I asked him, “Are you going to miss it? Learning, I mean.” He responded that he would not, because he intended to continue learning long after receiving his Bachelor's degree.
“I'm actually looking forward to becoming a self-learner,” he said. He told me about how his dad, a successful realtor, had been studying a different American president each year for the past several years, reading biographies and all that he could about these influential men of history. He explained how that had inspired him to continue studying and learning long after receiving his diploma. Moreover, he shared how excited he was about finally studying what he wanted to study with the discipline that college had taught him to use.
To this day, I've heeded those words and disciplined myself in learning something new as often as I can. Lately, I've been reading a lot and studying, in particular, some things I never spent much time with in college — namely, marketing and innovative business techniques. It's fun and relevant to my job, so it helps keep me on my toes.
For all of you who have also made this same commitment to “lifelong learning,” congratulations. I hope that the journey is exciting and challenging. Here are a few business and general learning resources that I'd recommend (feel free to add your own in the comments section):
The Personal MBA
An creative alternative to going back to business school
Seth Godin's Blog
Thoughts on business, marketing, and creating change
CopyBlogger
Tips for success as an online copywriter
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Free spiritual resources for Christians
37 Signals Blog
A blog about technology and innovative business
ManyBooks.Net
Site with thousands of free audio books
Some things you can do in your free time, if you're feeling bored or restless, are:
Write a Manifesto
ChangeThis is a site where you submit ideas for a manifesto and if people vote for it, it gets published.
Start a social network
Ning is a site where you can create your own social network for free.
Launch a blog
A blog is a website where you publish your own content.
Create a lens
A lens is webpage about a specific topic.
