I remember back when I was in college hearing about what was then termed the “professional student”, a person who stayed in college after completing a course of study and receiving a degree. Usually relying on his or her parents, the professional student would go on to another program and pursue another degree, putting off for as long as possible the necessity of getting a job. Of course, there is nothing wrong with learning and continuing to learn, but some form of application of that learning seems to be reasonable.

Nowadays, with my interest in various subjects continuing and changing over time, I can safely say I have never stopped learning. I just have not let the learning get in the way of working and earning a living at the same time as that professional student was alleged to have done.

Now, I don’t want you to confuse learning with mandatory continuing education requirements we find in many fields of thought. All too often in those situations you will see folks who sign in at the beginning and disappear at the first break. When the entity providing the CE figures this out and requires the attendees to be present to sign out at the end, these same folks are found working their smartphones, reading headlines, texting friends and colleagues or just about anything they can do to avoid actually learning.

I am sure a part of this ill behavior is that the “learning” is mandatory. Further, that some of the so-called learning is unhelpful, boring or even incorrect.  When one has an interest in a subject and chooses to spend their own time and money pursuing it, that person will do some real learning and will have chosen quality resources to do that learning.

If you have experienced any trouble with continuing education requirements, perhaps you should consider taking control of your learning and find congenial and effective sources that satisfy you and also the requirements. It will be much better all round and leave you with better knowledge for what you do.