“What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.” – Martina Horner.
My history teacher in grade 12 always dedicated 10 minutes to current events at the beginning of each class. I hated it. We were expected to keep up with the news and comment on our world. I was more interested in listening to music or reading fiction. In hindsight, this was probably the most valuable 10 minutes of my day (aside from English class, of course – after all, where would I be without that?).
When it comes to the publishing industry, I always make time to keep up with current trends and articles in order to stay as up-to-date as possible for my clients. But often in doing so, I tend to forget about the joy of learning simply for its own sake. I’ve often thought that I would be a professional student if I could afford the exorbitant tuition fees. But really, what’s stopping me from taking the time to learn something new every day? And why wouldn’t I want to be as informed as possible about the world around me?
Dedicating blocks of time throughout your day to reading articles just for fun, keeping up with the news, or learning about something new can have a tremendous impact on your creativity and motivation. Sometimes when I’ve hit a wall, I take a few minutes to read about something completely unrelated to what I’m working on and then tackle the work again with a fresh mind. That being said, I’m not condoning mindlessly surfing the Internet for hours to help cure writer’s block!
And knowing what’s going on in the world may give you that extra boost of confidence to help you strike up a conversation with someone at a networking event.
Where do your interests lie? What have you always wanted to know that you’ve been too busy to learn about?
Next week’s goal: Go with your gut.
Song of the week: “Broken Horse” – Freelance Whales (How could I not check these guys out, given their name)
Namaste 🙂
Rachel
Freelancing to Freedom 
Rachel I love this post. I have talked with several clients now who contemplate the idea of returning to university to think about “Creating Your Own Curriculum”, to treat your own personal ongoing studies as seriously as you’d treat any university degree program. Just because we’re doing something on our own doesn’t make it any less important and meaningful.
And I also really resonated with the quote you opened with, this can be a tough one to come to terms with 😉
By: Adrienne Furrie on March 12, 2012
at 4:09 pm
Thanks Adrienne! You’re right – personal endeavors are no less important just because they’re independent.
By: faultlessfinish on March 19, 2012
at 12:59 pm
Thank you Rachel, I am finding my learning curve to be expanding on a daily basis, based largely on your skills and guidance and Susan’s wisdom and direction. This old dog has certainly learned a new trick or two. 🙂
By: bawbsravenfeathers on March 12, 2012
at 8:26 pm
Thanks Bawb! Your support means a lot to me.
By: faultlessfinish on March 19, 2012
at 1:00 pm