Beyond the classroom

The following is a discussion of my experiences as a newly graduated student. Facing the reality that learning doesn't stop after school. We'll explore ways to keep educating ourselves, remain curious about the world, and feed our sense of adventure.

I've had a tough time at school, mostly due to the pressure I felt.

Growing up in a family of four children, my older sister was always an academic standout. This meant that as the second child, I felt the weight of high expectations. My family held me to a high standard, and I always felt I was disappointing them.

To be clear, I didn't perform as well as my sister in school. I usually fell in the middle of the class rankings and rarely spent extra hours studying. Up until the age of 12, I was closely monitored by my mother, who is a teacher, to ensure that I completed my homework and learned my lessons properly each day.

Finishing my homework became a tedious task, and summer assignments from my parents added to my stress levels.

In the long run, I admit that summer homework helped me perform decently in my studies. However, during those summers, I deeply wished for a break from schoolwork and the opportunity to enjoy my vacation uninterrupted. Instead, I was left feeling disappointed as I had to complete my assignments.

From high-school at the age of 15, I started to earn my mother trust and I could now manage my homework on my own. That was extremely relieving, as I could now understand what I had to do to get the grades I wanted, and could really find enjoyment in learning things I liked! I could go at my own pace (which might have been extremely slow on some subjects I was not interested in, and stupidly fast in maths which was somehow extremely fulfilling to me).

Starting higher education, especially engineering school, made me realize that I could learn from everything around me. Indeed, the world is full of incredible things (cars, smartphones, printers, electricity, internet, and even the human body is quite interesting). I started to wander how things worked, and to get ideas about things I could build.

I can recall of many teachers that made me love engineering, and I think that having a good teacher can change your life.

Now that I have finished my studies, I realize that I’d have to keep learning new things. It’s extremely important to remain curious and wander about as many topics as possible. But there is one important thing to keep in mind :

“Be good at what you like and keep improving”

I think the expertise is extremely important and should be nourished, and you should always push further the reflexion.

To remain curious and learn as widely as possible, I highly recommend reading. Indeed, people spend time writing books because they think they have something interesting to share to the world. Most of the time, you’d get something valuable from your readings (but always challenge the author thoughts in your mind) not everything said in books is true.

I like reading things I like, topics that I enjoy. Business, self-development, success stories, but I recently realized that I should also read books that are not appealing to me.

Like Bezos said in his recent interview with Lex Fridman ,

“Reading is wonderful because it helps you appreciate activities that require patience and dedication”

We are extremely fortunate, that’s for sure. But we have to take advantage of this fortune. Indeed, we can find everything and anything on the internet. I like to spend time learning new things watching Youtube videos (I recommend taking a YouTube premium subscription especially with student discount you can get it for around 5$).

But there is so much stuff… You won’t know where to look at and you’d end up watching useless things like cats jumping or people dancing.

I recommend looking at channels focusing on a particular topic for many years. As an example, I know that if I want to know things about tech I can look at MKBHD, and listen to his “Waveform” podcast.

A friend of mine, recently suggested a great book to read : “Too good they can’t ignore you”. One of the takeaway is that you can become one of the best by being challenged by the best, guided by someone that achieved your goal.

The student surpasses the master

You need dedication and motivation but that’s not the only thing needed in order to become great at something.

Like in everything in life, I find it extremely valuable to have someone helping you reflect and give you guidance on what to do.

But be careful, don’t learn from the best but with the best.

Like Casey says in his episode of The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, the “misterbeastification” of YouTube is the consequence of people applying the learn from the best rule. That’s why it is extremely important to understand the difference between “learning from” and “learning with”.

Thanks for reading, hope I made your reading valuable.

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