Picture yourself as a third grader. It’s May and you have two weeks of school left. It’s warm outside and all you can think about is a fun-filled summer full of sprinklers, fireworks, and ice cream.

Yet, here you sit at this uncomfortable desk, listening to the teacher droning on and on about some lesson in math or history or science. You’d rather be anywhere but here.

We never quite escape this impulse of wanting to be done with our education. We move on to middle school, high school, most likely college, and perhaps grad school. At every level, there is a sense in which we just want to be done so we can move on with life.

This doesn’t change even if you get to the doctoral level. Ask any Ph.D. student in the middle of their dissertation, and they’ll likely say, “I just want to be done with this thing.”

That is the kind of attitude most people expect from formal education, where we follow a prescribed path someone has laid out for us. There are lots of benefits to formal education, but nothing compares to the curriculum you create for yourself.

If you want to grow as a writer or artist, you have to change your mindset about learning. Learning is a privilege, not an obligation. Learning can happen anywhere, not just in a prescribed institution. Learning is the match that lights the fire of passion and purpose, not the bucket of water that drowns it out.

As Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” We must make time to learn every day. Whether it’s a book, podcast, course, video, mastermind, or some other learning opportunity, it’s absolutely vital that you make it a priority. Even just a few minutes of learning a day can change the whole course of your life in just one short year.

You might have a master’s degree, but you never truly become a master. You are always an apprentice. What are you learning today?