“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” ― Isaac Asimov

And I agree. In order to learn anything new you have to be invested in the learning process. This is why it is so much easier to learn more about your interests, you're already interested.

But this is also why it can be harder to learn in school. You may not always be fully interested in the subject.

So how do we truly invest in ourselves without any interest in the matter at hand?

I call it the unrelenting ability to learn.

You seek to learn from all sources of knowledge whether you love the subject or not. You seek to learn what would benefit you in the future. You are investing in your knowledge for the long term.

So how do we do this?

The 3 ways I would recommend are seeking to be excellent at whatever it is you do, reading more quality books, and finding mentors with experience.

Do Excellent Work

When I was younger I always tried to do my best work no matter what I was doing. When I grew a bit older, I tried to categorize this type of work, I dubbed the work that you strive to be the best at as excellent work.

I found a similar idea in the book So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport, as it states in the title, you need to do work so good that others will not ignore you.

But what does this have to do with learning you may ask?

“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.” - Confucius

Perhaps the greatest way to learn is by doing. Fully participating in your learning and giving it your all will metaphorically squeeze all the knowledge out of the experience. It will require substantially more effort, but the payoff will be worth it.

So I implore you, to strive to do your best at everything you do, as that is where true growth will happen.

As Alex Hormozi put it, "Your work, works on you, more than you, work on it."

Reading Quality Books

You've probably heard the saying that reading one great book 5 times is better than reading 5 mediocre books once.

I say this because reading is still perhaps the greatest source of knowledge as great books have combined huge amounts of knowledge into roughly 200 pages. Many times this can be one's life work into 1 book.

Some books that are great sources of knowledge are of course the classics of some prolific authors such as Marcus Aurelius, Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and others of course.

There are also thousands of other history, philosophy, and personal memoir books to choose from.

But Anthony, what about fiction? I got you covered.

Great fictional pieces can be both an escape into another world, while simultaneously representing the emotions and conflicts of human nature.

It would be near impossible to list them all, but some examples would be George Orwell, J.R.R Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Jennifer Nielson, Ayn Rand, Brandon Mull, Rick Riordan, James Dashner, and of course many others.

Great fiction can show some of the most potent and subtle parts of human nature. A wise man can learn from all parts of life.

Find Great Mentors

This can be somewhat difficult I grant you, but I highly recommend it. If you have parents that are great mentors, fantastic, but I would also find those who are on a career path you want to go down.

For example, if you want to go into teaching, having a teacher as a mentor would be an excellent choice, as they could give you the ins and outs of what teaching is.

If you can learn from the mistakes of others, you can avoid making the same mistakes yourself. At least, that's the idea.

Having a mentor can help tremendously with this. The only point I would add is that you still need to be active in your learning. No one can learn or live for you.

What you learn, and how you live is ultimately up to you.