25 Mar 2025
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By Marcus Pearce
The following excerpt from Your Exceptional Life – which PSK members can receive the ebook and audiobook for free here – shows us that there are many ways to learn these days.
Following on from last month’s article – Never Stop Learning – many asked, How Do We Learn?
We can read books, listen to podcasts and watch movies. We can attend lectures, workshops, seminars and retreats, or immerse ourselves in apprenticeships and trainings. And that’s just the beginning. What differentiates all learning is whether it’s active or passive.
Given how much choice we have today, we easily forget that passive forms of learning such as reading, listening and watching is not where the bulk of learning takes place. What we watch, listen to or read may plant the seed of a great idea inside of us – which is what I love about them – but they don’t create or embed the skill. Instead, chronic passive learning is the playground of the ‘know-it-alls’.
“I don’t believe knowledge is power at all,” according to learning expert Jim Kwik, author of Limitless. “It has the potential to be power but all the podcasts, online programs, coaching, seminars – none of it works unless we work it.”
In order to truly learn anything, we must cross the big scary bridge from passive learning to active learning. Active learning requires you to get off the couch or out of the house or up from the desk. Active learning includes speaking about the topic, giving a presentation and doing the real thing (as obvious as that sounds). Retention of information is far greater when you combine passive learning with active learning. As an example, researching for this book has been a passive form of learning, whilst writing the book and speaking about it has been an active form of learning.
If you listen to a podcast in French (passive) and then speak some French shortly after (active) you will learn French much more easily and quickly. If you read a book that opens your mind (passive), the exceptional step is to talk about what you learned and apply the learnings. Book clubs are wonderful for this very purpose and are a great example of exceptional growth combined with exceptional socialising.
The secret to exceptional growth is to be an active learner. Jan Smith didn’t just read about Everest, she went there and scaled the summit at 68 years young. Supercentenarian Dexter Kruger didn’t just think about writing books, he jumped the bridge from passive to active and started writing himself. Reading the books and brochures about your favourite travel destinations won’t get you there – they’ll plant the seed and water it for a while – but nothing completes the learning experience like doing the real thing and getting on that plane.
If you aren’t growing, you’re dying
Socrates proclaimed: “The only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing.” It sounds like a brutal insult to your intelligence when taken literally, but said another way by McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc: “As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot.” When you lose the attitude of the student and behave like the master, you begin the rotting process. Every master you love and respect is likely to have been a lifelong learner and student of their craft.
The alternative is to be the ‘know-it-all’; the person who knows everything when really they are shut off from any form of active learning apart from speaking. The mindset of knowing and completion is akin to rotting. When you feel like you know enough, you subconsciously shut yourself out from growth. The exceptional artist wants to be a better painter. The exceptional reader wants to read more books. The exceptional teacher wants to educate in more masterful ways. The exceptional gardener wants to learn new techniques or plant something new. This perpetual desire to grow in the areas of our curiosity lives in all of us, but only The Exceptionals let it express itself.
I remember attending an event where the presenter said, “If you think you’ve got your life sorted, it’s time to dig deeper.” Living your exceptional life is a lot like that. If you think you’ve mastered all eight areas of your life, it’s time to dig deep enough to become vulnerable again and identify where curiosity abounds. Moments of contentment are wonderful and to be enjoyed, but too much of it becomes boring and stifling. Gandhi proclaimed that a “healthy discontent is the prelude to progress”, which is a far wiser attitude to have in growth and in life.
The Exceptionals are never quite content with their output. Dexter Kruger wanted to write until the day he died; Jan Smith wanted to scale the seven highest mountains on the seven continents of the planet. Compare this with the alternative of passing time in front of the TV or getting to the end of your social media feed. There are empowering ways to grow and disempowering ways to grow; the choice is yours.
Age is no excuse to stop learning
When major chapters in our lives come to an end – our work ends, the children leave home, and relationships end – great opportunity exists. These times can be the beginning of something magnificent. You could do as Ruth Frith did and start athletics in your seventies, or as Charles Eugster did and hit the gym in your eighties. “Go make yourself necessary,” is what Dr Walter Bortz was told by his father growing up. Just as Bortz believes with exercise we must also believe in growth: “It is never too late to start; and always too early to stop.”
“As soon as you say you can’t do something, you begin to grow old.” – Wang Deshun
Marcus Pearce is a longevity and life design strategist and the author of Your Exceptional Life. He hosts the podcast 100 Not Out: Mastering The Art of Ageing Well, and each year takes small groups to the European Blue Zones of Ikaria and Sardinia.
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General Advice Warning - Any advice included in this article has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the advice, you should consider whether it’s appropriate to you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs.
