#27. Dad, how do I continue learning after school?

Jul 08, 2025

Welcome to Dad Logic. A weekly newsletter from a dad pretending to know everything since 1992. This pick-me up newsletter is guaranteed to make you laugh, think, and wonder, “Wait… does Dad actually know everything?” You can read all my newsletters here.

In a Nutshell:

• Your education ends when you stop asking questions, not when you get your degree

• The best mentors are often one step ahead of you, not miles away at the top

• Teaching others what you know accelerates your own learning faster

Hot Take: Most people treat graduation like a finish 
line when it’s actually the starting gun.

My daughter called me recently, two years into her residency, feeling overwhelmed. “University prepared me for the textbook cases,” she said. “But nobody taught me how to comfort a family losing their child or handle a colleague who cuts corners.” I smiled—not at her struggle, but with recognition. That moment when you realize your degree taught you the science but life teaches you the art? Welcome to being a professional.

The Myth of the Finished Product

Here’s what nobody tells you at convocation: graduation is not the end of learning—it’s the end of someone else deciding what you need to know.

School teaches you how to learn. Life teaches you what to learn.

The shelf life of specific knowledge keeps shrinking. What you learned in first year might be obsolete by fourth year. The real skill is learning how to keep learning when there’s no syllabus, no professor, and no final exam.

Think of formal education like learning to ride a bike with training wheels. You needed those wheels to get started, but you cannot ride the Tour de France with them still attached.

Finding Your Sherpa

You do not need to find Yoda. You need to find someone who climbed the mountain you want to climb and lived to tell about it.

The best mentors are often people who are two or three steps ahead of you, not twenty. They remember what it felt like to be where you are. They still have the bruises from their mistakes.

Marcus Aurelius wrote about learning from everyone around him—not just the famous philosophers, but the ordinary people who showed him patience, integrity, and wisdom through their daily actions. Your mentor might be your manager, your neighbour, or someone you meet at the coffee shop who has that spark of curiosity you admire.

The Extra Mile

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: not everyone starts the mentorship race at the same starting line.

Women and people of colour face higher discrimination rates, which makes intentional mentor-seeking less of a nice-to-have and more of a survival skill. When the informal networks and golf course conversations exclude you, you need to be more strategic about building your own.

This means seeking out mentors who look like you and understand your challenges. It also means finding allies who can open doors and amplify your voice in rooms where you are not yet present.

The good news? Many successful people remember what it felt like to be underestimated and are eager to pay it forward.

Stop looking for the perfect mentor. Start looking for people who know something you want to know.

The Reciprocal Learning Loop

Here’s the secret about mentorship: it goes both ways, even when you think you have nothing to offer.

Fresh eyes see problems differently. When you ask “Why do we do it this way?” you might uncover assumptions that have gone unquestioned for years. Your beginner’s mind becomes their expert’s refresh button.

I learn more from my weekly Scrabble group than most professional development seminars. The retired teacher shows me patience. The young entrepreneur teaches me about taking risks. The accountant demonstrates the art of precision.

Everyone has something to teach if you have something to learn.

Treat your career like a sport. Athletes do not stop training after they make the team—they train harder. Your mind needs the same commitment.

What I Wish I Knew at Your Age

I wish I had understood that the smartest people are not those who know everything—they are those who know what they do not know and are curious enough to find out.

The people who stopped learning after school are the ones complaining that the world changed without asking their permission.

Chew on this: The moment you think you know enough is the moment you know too little.