How Learning and Growth Fuel a Fulfilling Life

Is a college degree the only path to success? Or can self-directed learning be just as powerful—if not more? In this episode of Fulfilling Work, Meaningful Life, Anthony Craiker explores the impact of lifelong learning on personal growth, career development, and overall fulfillment.

From the real value of higher education to the rise of informal learning through digital resources, Anthony shares insights on how to approach education with intention. Plus, he reveals the biggest pitfall in personal development—learning without action—and how to avoid it. Whether you’re looking to grow in your career, develop new skills, or simply expand your mind, this episode will inspire you to embrace learning as a lifelong pursuit.

🎙️ Tune in to learn:
✔️ The benefits and limitations of formal education—and why college isn't for everyone
✔️ The rise of self-directed learning and how to leverage free and low-cost resources
✔️ Why personal development without action is a trap—and how to apply what you learn
✔️ The connection between continuous learning and a meaningful, purpose-driven life
✔️ A practical challenge to expand your mind through classic literature

🔗 Resources & Mentions:

• Hillsdale College Free Online Courses – Learn history, philosophy, and more for free
• Recommended classic authors: Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Fulfilling Work, Meaningful Life Website – Sign up for Anthony’s newsletter for career and life insights

📩 Get Your FREE Career Reflection Journal!
Thinking about a career transition? Download Anthony’s 14-day Reflection Journal to gain clarity on your next steps! Sign up for the newsletter at fulfillingworkmeaningfullife.com to get your free copy.

💬 Join the Conversation:
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Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction: The Value of Lifelong Learning
01:02 The Library of Congress Thought Experiment
05:28 The Benefits and Drawbacks of Formal Education
10:33 The Rise of Informal Education
14:23 Personal Development and the Importance of Application
17:22 The Joy of Learning and Classic Literature
20:25 Conclusion: Learning as a Path to Meaningful Life
23:03 Outro and Resources

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https://fulfillingworkmeaningfullife.com/

Transcript

Anthony: [00:00:00] Have you ever wondered if a college degree is really the key to success? Or how self directed learning can open doors that traditional education never could? Today, we're exploring the power of lifelong learning. How it shapes our personal growth, fuels our careers, and brings deeper meaning to our lives.
We'll discuss the real value of higher education, the rise of self directed learning in the digital age, and why applying what you learn is just as important as acquiring knowledge.
Stay tuned. This is Fulfilling Work Meaningful Life with Anthony Craiker, the show that helps you find and create meaning and purpose in all aspects of your [00:01:00] life.
 
Welcome everybody to another episode of fulfilling work meaningful life with Anthony Craiker this week We're going to be talking about living a life of learning as I was preparing for this episode I came across a post on reddit where Somebody asked, how long would it take to read every book in the library of Congress?
This was a post from like 11 years ago. And I thought this was interesting. Uh, one of the commenters tried to answer the question and according to them, the library of Congress has about 36 million books. I looked that up and I think it actually includes books and other print publications, but let's just assume for the sake of argument that that's correct.
36 million books. All right, and then they said some of those books are going to be really long, others might be shorter, but we're going to assume that each book has [00:02:00] about 64, 000 words. That's kind of an average number of words in a book apparently. And then they said , we're also going to assume that the average adult reads at a speed of about 250 words per minute.
Then they took that data. And they said, okay, we're also going to assume that the person's going to be reading for eight hours a day. So they said if you can read for eight hours a day, that's 480 minutes that you can read each day. And then if you can read 250 words per minute, that's 480 times 250. That equals about 120, 000 words a day.
If you take the 64, 000 average words per book, and you times that by the estimated 36 million books or publications that they have in the library of Congress, that gives you a total of 2, 304, 000, 000, 000 words in the library of Congress. [00:03:00] And then if you divide that by 120, 000, they said you get 19, 200, 000 hours.
Now. Another poster chimed in and said, well, actually your math is slightly off. It's actually more staggering than what you're suggesting because it's not 19 million, 200, 000 hours that you would have to read it's 19, 200, 000 days. That you would have to read and that equates, according to this other poster, to 52, 568 years of reading eight hours a day at 250 words per minute in order to get through all of the material that's published in the Library of Congress.
And then the average lifespan, according to this other commenter on the thread is 79 points. And so if you take the 52, 568 years and you divide that by 79. 8, that comes out to 659 human. [00:04:00] Lifetimes that it would take to read all of the material in the Library of Congress. Then they went on from there and calculated how many generations it would take to get through all the material.
If you assume that each generation has two children, and each of those children have two children, and so on. And each of , those, People within those generations read for eight hours a day at 250 words per minute. But anyway, we're getting a little bit into the weeds there. The point is that it would take a very, very, very long time to get through all of the material in the library of Congress.
We have accumulated. A tremendous amount of knowledge and information in this day and age. And there's no way, no way at all to learn or study everything during our lifetime. So we have to make choices about how we spend the time that we have when it comes to learning. What are we going to focus our learning on?
What's most important. Now I am [00:05:00] passionate. About learning, learning, education brings me joy. I love learning about new ideas and concepts, love challenging my mind. And some of my greatest moments of personal growth have occurred when I've learned something new and then applied it to my life, so . I'm a big fan of learning, and I think that learning is one of the ways that we can bring a great deal of meaning into our lives.
And I'll get to that in a minute, but let's talk a little bit about formal education first. Because a lot of people, when they think about learning, they think about formal education, right? Elementary school, secondary school, college, postgraduate work, and so forth. And there are definitely societal benefits to formal education.
People with college degrees are on average healthier, happier, more prosperous, and [00:06:00] tend to have more stable marriages than those without a college degree, some statistics that. are significant are that 47 percent of those with college degrees are more likely to have health insurance through their employers.
24 percent are more likely to be employed. They're 4. 9 times less likely to be imprisoned. And 3. 4 times less likely to be impoverished. So again, there are great societal benefits to higher education. And I am a product of higher education. I have a college degree. I did an undergraduate degree in history, and then I have a law degree, a jurisdoctorate degree, and those degrees have been beneficial.
They've allowed me to have the career that I have. Uh, as a practicing attorney. So I appreciate higher education and the benefits [00:07:00] that come with higher education. That being said, I'm a little less bullish on higher education than I used to be. And I've come to the conclusion that not everybody needs to or should go to college.
We need. People that go to trade schools, we need plumbers, mechanics, electricians. We need entrepreneurs and it's possible to get into some professional fields without having a college degree. I have a friend who doesn't have a bachelor's degree, but he's very successful in software development. So. A degree isn't necessarily required to live a fulfilling and prosperous life.
It can help on a macro level, , it's good for society. But on an individual level, it may not be the right decision for you. And it's entirely possible to be happy and have a meaningful life. [00:08:00] Without a bachelor's degree or terminal degree. Another concern that I have about higher education is that the debt burden is enormously high.
And oftentimes people go into debt to go to college and get a degree. And that degree provides little value to them in the marketplace. Now, , I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with getting a degree that doesn't have direct application to the marketplace in terms of employment. My undergraduate degrees in history, there's not a lot you can do with a history degree, but I found my study of history to be richly rewarding.
And I learned a lot about how to think. How to think critically, how to analyze problems, how to write well. And that served me well going into law school. I also just very much enjoyed the process of [00:09:00] studying history. I, I, I love studying history. So the degree. Doesn't necessarily have to translate to a specific career, although it can be helpful when that's the case.
The caution that I would urge is not to go into debt for a degree. That's not going to put you in a position to have a good career after you're done with college. So. That's kind of my take on higher education. I, I'm a proponent of higher education, but I don't think it's right for everybody. And I think it's okay to get some kind of liberal arts degree, but we need to be careful about encouraging our young people to go into a lot of debt to get a degree that's not going to necessarily provide economic value to them as they enter their career stage of life.
, and I say all this from experience, if I could go back 20 years, I would be much more careful about [00:10:00] going into debt for the degrees that I got. And that includes for my law degree. I went into quite a bit of debt to pay for my law degree. And I've had a good career. I've been successful as an attorney, but if I could go back in time, I would be a lot more cautious about the debt that I took on.
And try to find a way to finance my education in some other way, at least in terms of the total amount of debt that I took on. But I am grateful for my formal education, and I want that to be clear as well. It has been a blessing to my life. All that being said about formal education, What I really want to talk about today is informal education because of the internet and the advancements and technology that we've had over the last two decades You can now learn about all sorts of things Without a formal education.
My son is a great example of this. He's a bright young man But he has [00:11:00] ADHD and he struggles at times with sitting in a classroom, even though he's a pretty good student, it's a real struggle for him and sometimes they'll get behind on assignments and forget, get to do things and procrastinate. And it's just kind of this.
thing that he's learning to work through with ADHD. And we're trying to help him as best we can. But what I love about him is he teaches himself all sorts of things. Not too long ago, he built his own computer. I had no idea , how to do that. I, , I couldn't have helped him with that. And in fact, after he built his own computer, he approached me and said, Hey, let me help you build your own computer.
And so I ordered all the parts for mine and he. Put it together and got it started for me. In fact, I'm using that computer right now as I record this episode and he can go on YouTube or the internet and, and learn how to do things , by watching. . And he [00:12:00] remembers those things. It's really, really impressive.
He remembers the things that he learns and he knows how to learn from other people who can help him. And this builds his confidence and it allows him to be more creative. He's set up his own YouTube channel that he's been. Developing content for, for over a year, he now has over a thousand subscribers.
It's just really impressive. And so he's a great example of somebody who uses informal education to grow and develop his skillset. There are lots of ways that you can teach yourself about the things that you're interested in. And when we learn. Not only for the sake of accomplishing something specific or being able to do something, but we learn for the sake of learning itself.
I've found that there is great joy and meaning to be found in learning. [00:13:00] When we do that, there are lots of free online courses and resources out there. One resource that I think is great is Hillsdale college has these free courses on philosophy and history. And all you have to do is sign up and they send you the courses and you watch the videos and, and you can learn about all sorts of different things.
It's amazing how much information is out there that is readily accessible. At your fingertips to help you to learn and grow as a person. And when we talk about fulfilling work, a fulfilling career, you should be constantly learning in your career, right? Because industries change rapidly these days, and there's almost always new things to learn in one's career that will make your work more meaningful and help you advance in your career.
As well as be able to make contributions to your employer, [00:14:00] if you prioritize learning and that can result in better opportunities for you and better compensation. There are a lot of reasons that informal education should be something that we prioritize in our life and there are a lot of reasons that informal education can be a meaningful part of our lives.
One area where I think informal education is really important is. In our own personal development, read and listen to books that will help you achieve your goals and motivate you to grow and to be more productive. There is so much wisdom available on the pages of self help and personal development books.
There's a lot of them out there that aren't worth the paper that they're written on, but there are a lot of really good ones. And so invest in yourself. Commit to spending a certain amount per month or year [00:15:00] on books or online courses or other resources that can help you in your own self development, your own individual quest to become.
and to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life and ask around for recommendations. You know, ask, ask the people that you know and trust. Hey, what books have you read that have helped you in your personal development? Uh, listen to programs like this. , I often talk about the books that have been helpful to me and that I've found great wisdom and value in now.
Another word of caution here, as we're talking about the personal development space and all of the resources out there that you can spend money on. I see people fall into what I call the personal development trap. And here's what I mean by that. If you're spending money, if you're investing in yourself [00:16:00] by spending money on books or courses or whatever, you need to make sure that you're applying the things that you're learning.
Don't spend all your time just reading books or doing courses with personal development, the key. Is the practical application of the knowledge that you obtain. And a lot of people get sucked into this personal development trap. They spend a lot of money and they read books and they do courses and they watch videos online and they never really do anything with the knowledge that they gain.
They like the feeling that they get. The dopamine hit that they get when they're reading inspirational or motivational things, but then they don't follow through and do the hard work and if you're not doing the hard work, if you're not acting on the things that you've learned, it's really. A waste of your time to spend money on personal development resources.
[00:17:00] So be cautious of that. Like I said, you should invest in yourself and you should commit to spending a certain amount on a monthly or yearly basis, whatever it is on books and things like that, that can help you in your personal development, but. Don't spend so much money and spend so much time on those things that you never actually apply the things that you learn.
On a personal level, I love learning about things that challenge my mind and challenge my preconceptions. I love to think critically, think through problems and. understand other perspectives, even if they're perspectives I don't agree with. And I have found in my own life, a great deal of meaning in that process of learning.
I love learning about history. As I mentioned, I love reading philosophy. I love reading great literature. I love learning about art and science and. I see a lot of times [00:18:00] people get real excited about personal development and they spend money on self help books and courses and things of that nature, but they don't ever spend time on some of the great ideas and great pieces of literature that can really expand your mind.
So here's my challenge to you. Pick a piece of classic literature to read every so often to expand your mind. You can learn so much about human nature and the human experience if you read great fiction. I'm not talking about popular fiction, although there's nothing wrong with that. I enjoy You know, the popular fiction read from time to time.
I'm talking about the classics, the literature that has stood the test of time. A couple of author Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I have read books from both of these authors. Charles Dickens, of course, is known for Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, A [00:19:00] Christmas Carol. Dostoevsky is known for Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov.
And they're both. Fantastic authors. And if you commit to reading authors like that and sticking with them, even though sometimes the books can be quite challenging to read, if you stick with them, you'll find they are richly rewarding and they can give you insight into humanity more than the best self help book out there sometimes.
So that's a challenge I have for you is if you're not somebody who typically picks up Classic literature. Take that challenge and find an author or a book that you're interested in and read. Every so often the great literature, the great works of Western civilization. I'd also encourage you to visit an art or science [00:20:00] museum.
I love spending time in those kinds of places because it's a, a different way of learning. You learn through both visual means and by way of information. That's a great way to spend your time. And especially if you're looking for. Activities to do with your children. That's a great way for them to get an informal education by going to places like that and expanding their mind, expanding their horizons.
To me, a life of learning is a life of meaning. I believe we are meant to grow and develop during our lifetime. That's an essential part of the human experience. When we are learning, we are embracing one of the most important things that we're meant to do. Learning brings meaning to our lives in and of itself.
Certainly learning can help us achieve other ends that we're trying to achieve. But learning in and of itself should be an end. We should embrace learning as a part [00:21:00] of a meaningful life. And then When we apply what we've learned, not only to our own lives, but also to help and serve others. There's a whole nother layer of meaning that we can find through learning.
And I include in, when I say serving others, I include. Our jobs, our careers, serving people in the private sector, just because there's a monetary exchange doesn't diminish the value of the service that we provide to others. In fact, sometimes it becomes more valuable when people pay for a product or service.
So think of your career and in that way as well, as you continually learn in your career and become better at. Your work, you can better serve others. You can better serve your, your clients or your customers or whoever is benefiting from the work that you do. And that too can bring a great deal of meaning into [00:22:00] your life.
It magnifies the meaning that learning brings us. I've mentioned that I have two daughters that are in college. They both attend a college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. And. Brigham Young University, BYU, has a slogan that I love. The slogan is, Enter to learn, go forth to serve. I think that's a great motto for how education can help us have a meaningful life.
If we live our lives to learn and then go forth to serve, we'll find a great deal of purpose and fulfillment and meaning in The things that we do, whether that's our career, whether that's raising our children, whether that's serving in our community or serving in our church or synagogue, when learning becomes a priority and we use the things that we learn to serve, we are creating a meaningful life.[00:23:00] 
So enter to learn, go forth to serve. All right. That's all for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. Just a reminder, be sure to go 
check out my website, fulfillingworkmeaningfullife. com. Subscribe to my monthly newsletter. We send that out on the last day of the month and it will give you a little bit of a preview of what to expect and share some inspirational thoughts with you as well as link to the shows and the blog posts that I've put out there for, for the previous month.
And. If you are looking to make a transition in your career, maybe you're unhappy with where you're at in your career. Maybe you're looking to get a promotion. Maybe you're thinking of changing industries, or maybe you're thinking about starting a small business. I have a resource that I'd love to share with you.
It's free of charge. When you subscribe to the newsletter, I'll send you a link to download a free 14 day reflection journal for finding or creating fulfilling work. And, uh, this resource I [00:24:00] developed to help you take action towards making a transition in your career. It has practical steps and practical questions that you reflect on and write about in the journal and specific action items that you're invited to take as you go through this two week journal.
So check that out, fulfillingworkmeaningfullife. com. . And please, if you are getting something out of this show, please share it with others. It would mean a great deal to me if you shared this episode or previous episodes that you've liked with other people, and I'd love to hear from you.
I'd love to hear feedback from you, or if you have questions that I could answer for you on the show, I'd love to hear those as well. Part of the reason that I'm doing this is to build a community of people who are passionate about finding and creating fulfilling work in a meaningful life. Thank you so much again for listening.
I'll sign off now until next episode, let's make it a meaningful week.

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