Learning is a by-product. It’s a result of an activity that you didn’t consider learning in the first place.

When I think: Good learners. What comes to mind are children below the age of six, entrepreneurs, new parents and world-class performers. These are people that are not ‘learning’ through the classic school model. Instead, we call teenagers in school that are bored to death: Learners. When in reality, they are learning the least.

It’s the wanting. It’s the reason that makes you a learner. That’s what absorbs you. That’s what makes you lose track of time, overcome fear, build grit, knowledge and grow. Learning happens when you are not aware of it. It’s the wanting that makes you a mother, an inventor, a friend, a learner.

When you look back at yourself six months from today and don’t feel embarrassed by your naiveté, there’s a problem. That means you’re not learning, growing. — Ryan Hoover

“Operating from a place of needing nothing. Needing nothing attracts everything.” I love this quote.

Parents, companies and schools teach us that we need a degree. That we need to learn to be creative, critical thinkers, and job ready. They make you dependent on their services, ideas and ways of thinking.

You need nothing.

When you ask learners how to learn something they give the same advice — just do it. The repetitiveness has made us sick of the advice.

But it’s true. Just do it is the opposite of learning. Learning is useful for finding an accurate answer, but not achieving your long-term plans. Curiosity in nonlinear. There is not a step-by-step plan to achieve your idea of success. Learning makes you follow someone else’s agenda.