For Lifelong Learners Only

"All my life I used to wonder what I would become when I grew up. Then, about seven years ago, I realized that I was never going to grow up—that growing is an ever ongoing process." - M. Scott Peck

You know how sometimes somebody will say something that starts with, “There are two kinds of people in this world…” followed by a gross categorization of some kind? Such as, “…those who go with the flow, and those who are always trying to make things happen.” Or, “…those who ‘get it’ and are ‘with it,’ and those who question everything and operate outside the box.”

There are all sorts of ways to slice and dice people in general. One of my favorites is, “There are two kinds of people in this world—those who know what they know and are content with that, and those who are on a lifelong journey of learning.”

Experts in marketing say that if you have a valuable product, before you can tell anyone about it you need to find out who wants it. You need find a very specific target segment of people who have a crying need for what your product provides. Only then will you be able to find them and tell them about it.

I’ve given some thought to this—who is interested in the kind of content I post on my blog? I know I can’t please everybody, and it would be foolish to try. So what kind of people make up my “target market?”

For me, the answer is: life-long leaners. These are the people who want to know more, continue growing as individuals, become stronger, and learn better ways of doing things.

Now, I’m fully aware of the fact that the vast majority of people are not life-long learners. When I think about the people I know and the people I encounter every day, if I’m honest with myself I have to say that maybe only 20-30% of them are seekers of new knowledge and wisdom. Most people are set in their ways. Maybe they’re happy with who they are, or maybe they aren’t. But either way, they aren’t looking to make changes.

So I accept that my blog isn’t for everybody. It probably wouldn't seem appealing to most people.

But I don’t post for them. I post for people who are open to new insights, new perspectives, new ideas, new facts, new opinions, new patterns, new phases of life. People who believe that no matter how much you learn, you’ll never come to the end of learning—that if you never stop learning, your mind will always remain young.