Most viewed this week, 18th April 2021

Life-Long Learning is the Real Purpose of Life

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3. Use the ‘Know, Feel, Do’…

If you are at college reading this you will have a clear idea of why you are studying the course you’ve chosen. And chances are that you have chosen your particular course due to the jobs you hope that will open up for you when you graduate.

With the average US student leaving university with a debt of $37,000 in 2020 young people don’t have the luxury of studying simply for academic pursuit. The picture is similar in the UK with average student debt at £40,000 for those leaving English universities in 2019.

The pressure is on to make sure…

If there is one thing I would go back to my 20-year old self and change it would be to stop focussing on saving so much in cash and instead invest in the stock market.

I didn’t have much to spare each month back then but what I lacked in funds would have been more than compensated for by the miracle that is compound interest.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein.

Putting all your spare cash under the mattress is for fools. Storing…

I don’t think that I suffer from anxiety. But I do often feel anxious at the start of a working day.

I recently started a new job within the company that I’ve been working at for many years. It’s an exciting opportunity. It is a bit too exciting. It’s the sort of job that I don’t feel ready or able to do — which is exactly why I should be grabbing the opportunity with both hands.

But not feeling ready or able makes my imposter syndrome scream at me every day unless I make an effort to silence it.

I…

It would be best if you didn’t go through life making decisions based on a lack of knowledge.

Especially the big ones. What to study at University. Where to live. Who to choose as your life partner.

We need to make sure that we are making sound decisions based on the best available evidence. Only fools rush into marriage within months of meeting someone. You first meet their family. Find out about their past. And try them for size by making sure you can live harmoniously together.

What kind of bar should we set for smaller decisions in life? Those…

To my delight, I received several books as gifts for my birthday recently. The book that I had no hesitation in selecting to read first was ‘Klara and the Sun’ by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The others in the pile on my bedside table will have a tough job matching the impact that this has had on me. I couldn’t put the book down and read it in just two sittings.

It has everything that a good book should have — complex and interesting characters, a gripping plotline and the ability to give you a new perspective on the world.

Ishiguro has…

I suddenly had a dream last night in a language that I am learning in my adult life.

And it’s blown my mind.

The dream was so vivid and clear. The conversation I had included words and sentences that I wasn’t consciously aware that I had absorbed.

This experience has made me reflect on language and identity in ways that I hadn’t thought about previously.

I’m sure there are lots of linguists researchers out there who can tell me all about the impact that language has on identity. Those of you that are lucky to have learned more than one…

What is the point of life? Why are we here? If you have a pulse then you will have asked yourself that question at some point.

Your religious faith may give you meaning. You derive your purpose from worshipping God. And the community it gives you.

But religion is declining. Western societies have become more secular. The percentage of people in the US who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” is 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

The UK is even more secular. Eurostat’s Eurobarometer survey in December 2018 found that 53.6% of the UK’s…