[vyrotek]

While I agree, I still think there's an important part missing. Testing and Application. While studying topics that you have chosen out of interest is fun, I don't think most people have the discipline to really learn something. That is, until there is an expectation that their knowledge will be tested in some way.

There is lots to learn out there, but I wish there were better metrics to help even just myself understand if I really have learned what I claimed to have been 'studying'.

Perhaps there's an idea in here somewhere. A wiki of tests and exercises which you can use to self-measure your knowledge? You could allow anyone (newbies to experts) to submit tests. Then you could be Vyrotek certified for under-water basket weaving. Not that it would be worth anything to anyone besides yourself.

[jiganti]

Isn't the fact that you are interested in something motivation in itself? In school, you're required to take tests, an extrinsic motivator that implies your life will be better later if you buckle down and learn things you might not particularly love. But reading on your own when you could choose to do other things means that there's an intrinsic motivation, a satisfaction from just acquiring the new information.