It’s that time of year again. Students in the United States are going back to school for the next year in their formal education journey. Too often we think that learning ends when we leave the classroom. However, learning is a lifelong process.

1. 📚️ Learn Intentionally Every Day

Set aside time daily to learn something new. Not only is it a lot of fun, but it also has a significant impact on your outlook on life. The moment you stop learning you become stagnate. Instead, find something that interests you and spend a little time every day learning that skill or understanding a new concept.

There is a common misconception that you need 10,000 hours to be good at something. The study this originates from actually says you need 10,000 hours to be a world-class expert at a skill. Luckily, to be moderately good at something you need only 20 hours.

In 1885, German Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered the forgetting curve. When you are learning something new, you will need more repetition at the beginning, and less and less as time passes on. Understand this phenomenon to optimize the time and frequency you spend reviewing a learned skill. 

2. 🧠 Develop a Growth Mindset

No one can keep you from personal growth more than yourself. With this in mind, spend time identifying the things you believe are unchangeable about yourself. We have all heard self-proclaimed comments like, “I am just not a math person,” “I don’t belong in that group,” and “This is just the way I am.”

However, it is harder to hear these types of comments we make about ourselves. Pay attention to anything you say about your identity. Or better yet, ask someone close to you to evaluate where you might be limiting your potential because of a lie you believe about yourself.

Once these self-told lies are brought to light, begin dismantling them by believing that you can change in the area of that specific lie.

A growth mindset is believing you can change and that with some effort and practice you can do almost anything. YOU CAN be good at math, hit your fitness goals, and change your habits and routines.

Find out how to cultivate a growth mindset in yourself.

3. 🪴 Have a Garden

Both sets of my grandparents have grown gardens and flowers almost every year that I’ve been alive. This is one of the things that I believe has kept them young, healthy, and active into older age.

Studies have shown that having a garden builds strength, increases social connection, causes your body to produce more vitamin D, protects memory, boosts mood, generates feelings of agency and empowerment, and promotes healthier eating.

There are too many benefits to forgo having a garden of your own. Buy a plant today to get started.

4. 💰️ Create a Learning Budget

If you want learning to be a priority in your life, your budget should reflect its importance. Set aside a small learning budget for buying books, enrolling in classes, starting a new hobby, or any other activity you would like to learn. The goal of this budget is to spend all of it every month on things that you are interested in learning. With this budget in place, you don’t need to feel like you are wasting money on something for your personal development.

These small monetary investments you make into yourself will compound over time and make your life richer, more interesting, and keep you young.

5. 🤝 Make New Friends

It is never a bad time to make new friends. Whether you are 8 or 80, a new friend is always a good thing. I believe that having a community of people around you increases your enjoyment of life and gives you people to lean on when you need help. These individuals challenge you, make you think, and care about you in a way few people do.

Put yourself out there and say hello to that person you have been wanting to get to know. Ask them what they are passionate about and listen intently. One of the fastest ways to build a friendship is to just be a person who will listen to them.

This week I encourage you to make a new friend.

Final Thoughts

In what ways have you grown the most? What learning habit have you developed that isn’t on this list? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Enjoy this email: Please tell a friend about it.

Rock on,

Camden