Or Mad Men, Breaking Bad and probably a host of other shows available to us from every possible source.  A few years ago, I read an article that said at that point in time the amount of shows being produced, you could not watch all of them if you tried – 24 hours a day all year long.  When co-workers, friends and family would mention shows, I never had a clue.  I was always being encouraged to watch the newest craze, but I found that I never really did.  They could be the best written shows, win all sorts of awards – I just didn’t have the space in my schedule to watch.

I’m not saying that I never watch a show or movie, but I often ask myself, “What will I be glad I spent time doing for the rest of the night?”.  My window in the evening is short because I choose to wake up early for my morning routine (another time I’ll talk about the importance of).  I might have only 90 minutes to use after dinner with family and time spent with family – which is always high on my list of time well-spent.

I often wonder, why do people stop learning after school?  Are they tired of the testing of the ability to memorize?  Do they think that what learning is all about?  Unfortunately, school teaches how to memorize information – but we need wisdom, knowledge and life skills.   

I can promise you that I don’t often use any of the information from the Organic Chemistry class in college.  I was a curious kid, who happened to like science and math and I liked to learn.  Now that is a quality that would always help me in my career.  The grades in college courses couldn’t predict any of my future success or failures.  What the grades could not tell you is that I enjoyed college, went on a study abroad to England, changed my major, participated in clubs and met a lot of people.  Eventually the whole experience would prepare me for a life of change, success and challenges.

So why do so many of us stop learning?  Aren’t you curious about anything?  Don’t you want to learn new skills – or even a hobby?  When our family was young, money was tight (eating out was too expensive), so I had to become a decent cook.  I began to experiment with cooking and how to create meals that tasted great, that the kids would eat.  A recipe is just science – combining ingredients in the amount listed and implemented in the order given.  I am surprised when anyone says that they are a bad cook, or is it too hard to learn something new?

Lifelong learning is the key to so many aspects of your life.  It usually is the minimum requirement for success in any field.  The speed of information and knowledge today requires you to also increase and keep up – Are you?  Aside from job security, it keeps your mind sharp, keeps you healthy, enriches your life, learn practical skills and can boost you into a higher pay. 

Consider all the positive’s the next time you are deciding whether to be entertained by a show, or to pick up a book and read, or learn a new skill.  What’s on your list of areas that you’d like to improve?   For me, I’m perfectly fine not knowing any of the story lines behind these shows, I’m living a pretty darn good story myself.

 “Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.” – Hal Elrod