The importance of learning in the 21st Century

What is one of the most important tools in the 21st century? The almost instant access to knowledge on the Internet is probably the most important tool of the 21st century. There is an explosion in the body of knowledge made available by the Internet. The Internet is a great equalizer in the access of knowledge. Anyone with Internet access has probably a boundless reach to knowledge. In such reality, probably one of the most important skills to pick up in the 21st Century is “Learning to Learn". Fast and optimal learning is an important skill in the 21st Century.

Gone were those days, when you learn up only one skill and that is the only skill that sustain your livelihood until your retirement. The world is moving too fast in the 21st Century. The knowledge and skill that you have may not be relevant anymore compared to the first occasion you learned it. Please don’t expect the knowledge and skill that you learned 5 years ago would be totally applicable and relevant today. We need to keep learning, keep integrating new knowledge in our life and keep adapting to the reality. At time of writing this post, Malaysia in under Conditional Movement Control Order (as of 6 May 2020) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most individuals are restricted in their movement outdoor. “Work From Home” suddenly become the “new normal”. For most people “Work From Home” is not by choice, but by social necessity and social responsibility. The reality of “Work From Home” is much more sobering from our idealistic conception of it. We need to put in a lots of preparation to actually start to “Work From Home”. For example, setting up the IT infrastructure at home. Imagine Day 1 of MCO. Some of the mundane but necessary preparation like setting up the VPN to dial into company server, using virtual meeting application, setting up the printer, setting up the scanner seems to be a rocket science that only the guy from IT department (”What his name again? Ricky? Johnny?) has the arcane knowledge to do it. Suddenly the guy from the IT Department of your office becomes your Super Hero. After numerous calls, you got everything set up and you are ready to “Work From Home”. The moral of the story: appreciate the IT Department staff. Or, your company do not actually have an IT Department. You need to figure out all the setting up by yourself. Suddenly your Techie friend is your Super Hero - although you had many time just “layan” him talking about technology and specification of equipments during your previous “teh tarik” sessions. The moral of the story: appreciate your Techie friend. Whatever it is, you need to learn many things fast in order to get ready to “Work From Home” fast. In my professional circle, one of the skills is to create and to share video content in view of the current situation. Previously, these skills are probably a nice-to-have-hobby. Suddenly, the skills to do video recording, video editing and sharing video become important. Once again, I need to learn fast and optimal to get the job done. I will never be an expert in all these areas. There are always avenues to grow and to improve. Having the basic knowledge and basic skill in these areas allow me to learn more from talented experts and to collaborate with helpful experts. This whole experience underlines the importance of Optimal and Fast Learning in the 21st century. Now, over to you:

What would you like to learn next? What is hindering you from learning? If nothing is hindering you, why haven’t you start learning yet?