A student is someone who is studying at a university or other places of higher education. That’s the definition by Oxford Languages, according to Google.
In our society, a student is someone who goes to school or college. So, once you complete your academic studies, you are no more a student.
That’s not quite what it is. A student is someone willing to learn about something. So, in a way, a student is a learner. But, learning never ends. You learn something every day, even if you are not currently associated with any school or college. You learn about people, life, or any particular topic.
In today’s tech-driven world, you have Google to help you learn about almost anything. So, you don’t have to go to a university to be a student. But, you are still a student, and you will be a student for the rest of your life.
Knowing the fact that learning never stops, you should consider yourself a student at all times. You need to keep learning and exploring. Just because your formal/academic education is over does not mean that you are no longer a student. Education never ends.
Even if you have a job and make good money, you should never stop exploring and learning new things. The things you learn do not necessarily have to be related to your job. You can learn new skills, language, subject, or whatever. Learning new skills has never been easier. Elon Musk said in one of his interviews that you could learn anything for free.
There is always something to learn for everyone. For example, whenever you are at a new job, you have to learn the work there. In addition, you have to learn the office culture, the people, and the system. For that, you have to become a student again.
Furthermore, if you run a successful business, you should never feel like you “made it.” Instead, you should learn more and do more things that will positively impact your business. Of course, you should be proud and grateful. But you should never let your ego come in the way.
Success might bring pressure to pretend that we know it all. That is not something you want to do. Nobody can “know it all.” Learning is a continuous process. Even if you say you are perfect at something, you will lose your perfection if you do not keep practicing or constantly updating yourself.
“No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.” —Ryan Holiday, Ego Is The Enemy.
Learning is for life. You must learn from every situation and every person you meet. Learning does not necessarily have to be about the good things. You can learn the bad things so that you can avoid or remove them from your life. Learn from the good people/circumstances and make your life better. On the other hand, learn what you should not be doing from the bad people/circumstances and make your life better.
As I said, there is something to learn from every single day of your life. Somedays, you learn it the good way, while other days, you learn it the bad way. So be ready for any situation. Learn to grab good opportunities in life.
How to stay a student?
There are a couple of things you can do every day that will help you learn better. You will constantly be upgrading your knowledge if you do these things.
- Read books
- Meet new people
- Listen to podcasts, read blogs, and watch informative videos
- Put yourself in challenging situations
- Live out of your comfort zone
- Try new things
Learning should not be something that bothers you. For example, when you were in school, you had to do your homework. Your parents and teachers would constantly ask you to focus on your studies and getting good grades. But you wanted to go out and play with your friends, watch TV, and do other fun stuff.
The process of learning should be fun. It will make you want to learn more, and help you learn better as well. But, you should not do it forcefully. Learn to make learning fun and enjoyable. It is a part of life that you should not let go of. Otherwise, you will have difficulty living your life.
If you stop learning, you might lose your business and success. So you have to keep learning and upgrading your knowledge. For example, software engineers always stay up-to-date with new programming language upgrades and tools that will make it easier for them in the software development process.
One of the most important life skills is the ability to learn. So always be a student and keep learning. If you stop doing it, your knowledge becomes fragile, and you will have difficulty surviving. Remember, education is a continuous process. It never ends.
What you do and what you learn are in your hands. If you become ignorant and stop learning, you are creating a failure because of your self-ignorance.
