Learning something new is hard, especially when you have no prior knowledge of the subject. But that difficulty is not a dead end. It’s just the starting point.

Distinction Between Schooling and Education

Learning is not confined to the walls of a school, nor is education solely delivered in a classroom. While schools provide structured learning, true education extends far beyond them. People learn through personal experiences, mentorship, trial and error, self-directed study, and even casual conversations. Many of the world’s most successful individuals attribute their knowledge to lifelong learning rather than formal education alone. Whether through reading, hands-on practice, or digital resources, learning is a continuous process that goes beyond grades and certificates.

Developing the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills quickly and independently is crucial, not just as a student, but as a person. Economically, people with valuable knowledge or skills tend to earn more than those without. More broadly, knowledgeable people can solve problems, and as the saying goes, people make history either by solving problems or by creating them.

Unlike the stomach, the brain doesn’t alert you when it’s empty.

— African and Arabic proverb

The only way you become aware that you need more knowledge is through your environment.

People Who Succeed Without Formal Education

Formal education is one path to knowledge, but it is not the only one. Many successful individuals, such as Thomas Edison, who was largely self-taught, or Leonardo da Vinci, achieved greatness through self-directed learning and persistence. In the tech world, self-taught programmers have built billion-dollar companies, and artists have gained mastery without formal training.

The argument here is not that one form of education is better than the other. Both paths have produced remarkable people. What matters more than the path itself is the commitment to continuous learning, adaptability, and problem-solving.

The Role of Mistakes in Learning

For most of us, nobody sat us down and taught us how to use our favourite mobile app. We learned by using it, making mistakes, noticing what worked, and adjusting. The same is true for toddlers learning to walk. Their parents help at first, and they fall many times before taking a first step. But they don’t give up, and the frequency of their falls decreases over time.

Learning is exponential. It’s hard at first because you’re building from nothing, but each thing you learn makes the next thing easier to grasp. Mistakes are not failures. They are feedback. Those who embrace failure as part of the process often progress faster than those who fear making mistakes. Babies don’t learn to walk by studying instructions; they try, fall, and adjust until they succeed.

Anyone can learn anything. Any baby with no physical disability will learn to walk, and I’ve observed three reasons why. First, they are deeply passionate about walking. They see adults do it and want the same. Second, they are focused and disciplined. Third, they need no external motivation. Once a person has genuine passion and focus, motivation takes care of itself. Motivation is for those who are still in the process of developing that passion.

Passion and motivation play different but connected roles in learning. Passion is a strong internal drive that makes learning feel effortless. Motivation, whether intrinsic (curiosity) or extrinsic (rewards, recognition), helps push through initial resistance. Often, people start with external motivation before developing genuine passion. A student learning to code might begin because of job opportunities but later become passionate about problem-solving itself.

Before learning anything, assess where you stand. Ask yourself two questions: “Why am I learning this?” and “What do I gain from learning it?” The second question also guides you on how deeply to learn. Take swimming as an example. The answer to the first question might be “to become the best swimmer in my school or community,” and the answer to the second might be “fame, recognition, and awards.”

To fully learn anything means to be able to create, not necessarily something physical, but new ideas, new knowledge, new ways of seeing. Getting there requires moving gradually through stages, building on what you already know.

Finding Passion Through Curiosity

Passion often begins with curiosity. A simple question like why does salt dissolve in water? can spark an interest in chemistry or physics. Curiosity typically starts small and grows as we explore. It is not an innate trait but a habit, developed by asking questions, experimenting, and seeking answers.

It usually starts with a small idea, a conversational argument, or a piece of text. A single insight can evolve significantly depending on the time, passion, and focus you give it.

I love drawing now. I do art almost unconsciously. It started with a Primary 1 (Grade 1) assignment: “Draw and label the parts of a human body.” It would have been easy to trace the outline from the textbook. But I asked myself: can I draw this without tracing? The answer was yes. That small question was the spark.

Ambition won’t find you. You have to find it by exploring. Once you do, you have passion. All that remains is discipline and focus. The best way to focus is to remove distractions that pull you away from what matters most. It’s gradual, but once you’ve developed these habits, you won’t need productivity hacks. Learning becomes unconscious.

If you often need an alarm or a rigid timetable to stay consistent, you probably don’t yet have enough passion or focus for that subject. With the right passion and focus, you can enter a flow state of learning without much struggle.

At any point in our lives, we are at the maximum level of knowledge we’ve ever had. It’s only by looking back that we see how little we once knew. And at any point, there is always more: more interesting, more complex, more rewarding knowledge waiting just ahead.