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Louis L'Amour, Albert Einstein, Lifelong Learning and Success

Guest post by: Bud Bilanich

Article Overview: Successful people are outstanding performers. Outstanding performers are lifelong learners. Lifelong learning is really important to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve. Remember what Louis L'Amour says, "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." Treat each new day as an opportunity to learn. Stay open to new people and new ideas. If you do this, you'll come to realize that you are never finished learning and that what you learn after you know it all is the most valuable knowledge you'll develop.

Louis L'Amour, Albert Einstein, Lifelong Learning and Success

If you want to become an outstanding performer, you need to become a lifelong learner. The other day, I came across a great quote from Louis L'Amour, the great American writer of stories about the old west. I think this quote captures the essence of lifelong learning...

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."

I know a lot about career and life success. I've written several books on it. I give lots of talks about it. I've coached hundreds of people -- helping them build the successful life and career they want and deserve. I write a blog. At one point, I thought I knew it all.

And you know what? Every time I write about career and life success, every time I speak about it, every time I coach someone, I gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create a successful life and career.

I begin anew every day, doing whatever I can to learn about career and life success and to pass on this knowledge and wisdom to others. I choose to keep learning. So should you. I've learned that if you don't keep learning, you don't stand still; you fall behind in the game of life. I've also learned that what I learned after I knew it all was some of the best and most important of my learnings.

Thomas Carlyle once said, "What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books." He lived in the 19th century. If he were alive today, he might have amended his statement to say, "Books and the internet are the greatest university of all." So many of the great books, as well as other career and life success information, are available on line. The internet is a great way to access this information. The important thing is to keep learning -- how you do it and where you get your information is secondary.

I have a huge collection of books on a variety of subjects. These books are the first place I turn when I am looking for information to post on my blog, when I am working with my executive coaching clients, when I am preparing a speech and when I am designing a training program. When I can't find what I'm looking for in my books, I go on line.

My best common sense suggestion for becoming a lifelong learner is simple. Read. Read technical journals. Read trade magazines. Read business publications like "The Wall Street Journal", "Business Week", "Fortune" and "Forbes." If you think they're too stodgy, read "Fast Company." Read your company's annual report. Read your competitors' annual reports. Read your local newspaper and "The New York Times". Read news magazines like "Newsweek" and "Time." Read business and industry blogs. Read ezines and eBooks. Read books. Reading is the best way to stay up with what's happening in business, in your industry and in the world.

There are other things you can do to keep learning. Attend seminars. Join the major groups or trade associations for your industry. Attend their meetings and participate. Volunteer for committee work. Become known locally in your field. Take a class at your local university. Use your company's tuition reimbursement program to get a free undergraduate or Masters degree.

Your education doesn't stop when you graduate from college, it begins anew. There are many ways to keep learning. Decide which ones work for you, and then follow through. Outstanding performers are competent. They stay competent because they are lifelong learners.

I agree with Albert Einstein who said...

"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong learning attempt to acquire it."

The common sense point here is simple. Successful people are outstanding performers. Outstanding performers are lifelong learners. Lifelong learning is really important to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve. Remember what Louis L'Amour says, "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." Treat each new day as an opportunity to learn. Stay open to new people and new ideas. If you do this, you'll come to realize that you are never finished learning and that what you learn after you know it all is the most valuable knowledge you'll develop.

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Article Tags: begin anew every day, lifelong learners, opportunity, Outstanding performers
Referred by: http://www.jimbouchard.org



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Jackie Chan Profile - Noted - thanks Albert!
Books for entrepreneurs! - Great suggestions - thanks Albert!
Re: History of Women in Business in the United States - Nice read. I feel a few things were left out. At a time in American history it was illegal for a women to do many things. Not only did they need a man to stand up for them, but they needed him to sign bank documents etc.. for the women in question. Not long ago in our history a women did not have a bank account. This was a slap in the face for the woman's husband or father. My state of Oregon is supposedly had a very strong women, a madam, contribute to the establishment of our state. Of course this is seen as a very old business but a business a women were able to run in the back alleys, and as I have read, in the underground here in Oregon. Mileva Mari? was a women in our history that in her own right contributed to America with her mathematics and physics smarts. Born disabled and "homely", her rich parents sent her to many fine schools where she was (it has been said), the only women in these establishments. Since her father did not think she would ever get married seeing how she was, I bet he was a happy camper when Albert Einstein married her. I feel, with no hesitations if it were not for Mileva Mari?, Albert would not be in the history books as he is now. I feel since in the day women were not supposed to have a brain, nor be allowed to publish their own work, that her husband took her work and published it as his own. The Pendleton Roundup , (a huge rodeo here in Oregon), banned women from the rodeo due to "unlady like" behavior around the 1900's. Hence barrel racing took hold as the ONLY women event. In WWII women were the ones who were the welders etc.. women were the ones to take on the jobs of men who were fighting for our country. Once the war was over, women had to relinquish their jobs to the men. One such women was in my sons family, and I got to hear first hand how things were. I like to bring up Emily Dickinson as well, as for women who changed who women are. Women helped establish equal rites here in America. Women along with the black society fought for equal rites. A white women had the same rites as a black person here in America, thus it was only common sense to help with the equal rites movement. Again running into a women who was there. I feel Oprah Winfrey is passing down a history of strong women. Strong women who have always been. She has just stepped it up to modern times. Women rites is not a white nor black issue, it is a women, man issue. Women have done so much for America, sorry to say to find information which gives credit where credit is due when the husband is a big name, or when the establishment is huge, it takes some digging. Women in history have done bigger and better things than the girls of today are taught in schools. Bigger and better then beauty products, or cooking. Women have been, and always will be the back bone of America and American Business.
Re: My Favourite 7 Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time - Hi Evan, I have a new suggestion for "Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time" and a suggestion for your Learning from the Masters series: 1. Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time = Christopher Columbus: "... he saw the possibility of treasure and commerce where others saw only danger. He committed so wholeheartedly to that vision that not even dozens of rejections and ongoing penury could dissuade him from pursuing a journey to Asia via the West. He built on his technical strengths as a seaman to plan a viable journey and eventually marshal an expedition." - Christopher Hoenig, 6 Essential Secrets for Thinking on a New Level I bought Hoenig's book about 10 years ago but couldn't make head or tail of it then... reading it now and finding it inspirational... 2. Nomination for Learning from the Masters video: Dee Hock, founder of VISA. (Source = Hoenig.)
Speed dating for investors - Are you planning on going Louis?


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