I think of lifelong learning a little like glassblowing. An artist selects pieces of glass, applies heat to fuse them together, and shapes the molten glass into something beautiful. Each shard of colored glass contributes to the finished work, its distinct shape and color blending with the others as they fuse into a single creation.
I think learning works much the same way throughout our lives.
We accumulate knowledge and experiences through our jobs, friendships, travels, education, and the things that interest us. But learning isn't simply a matter of collecting experiences. We can deliberately draw on what we already know, combine that knowledge with new experiences, and use both to develop skills and pursue goals that matter to us.
Like the glassblower, we are the artists directing the process.
It was that idea I drew upon when I set out to build an income-generating social media presence. I took shards of knowledge from things I'd learned years earlier, combined them with skills I was still developing, and deliberately fused them together to create something new.
Around May or June of 2025, I identified two things I wanted to learn. First, I wanted to understand how to grow a social media audience that I could eventually monetize. Second, I wanted to improve my Portuguese.
I decided to create an opportunity to accomplish both goals at the same time.
I'd been watching Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee, talk about the importance of creating content and putting yourself out there. I was already making videos for YouTube in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and experimenting with different languages on my original TikTok account, brianopolis.
I started thinking about how I could use TikTok's algorithm to connect with people in Brazil.
If I created content in Portuguese, perhaps the algorithm would introduce my videos to Brazilians who wanted to interact with me. I could practice the language, make friends, and learn how to build an audience through the same activity.
I had reason to believe this approach could work because I'd deliberately created a similar learning experience about 26 years earlier.
At the time, I'd moved to the New York City area for a job. I had already begun learning Portuguese, but I wanted to become fluent. So I made a conscious decision to live in Newark, New Jersey, where the Ironbound neighborhood had a large Brazilian community.
I wanted to surround myself with people who spoke Portuguese, make friends, and create opportunities to use the language in everyday life. I knew that if I wanted to improve my Portuguese, I needed more than books and lessons. I needed conversations, friendships, and regular interaction with people who spoke the language.
So I went where those opportunities existed.
And it worked. I made Brazilian friends, spent time in their community, and developed my Portuguese through everyday conversations and experiences. I had deliberately placed myself in an environment where learning could become part of my daily life.
Twenty-six years later, I realized I could apply the same approach without having to move anywhere.
This time, instead of physically going to a Brazilian community, I could use TikTok's algorithm to bring that community to me.
By creating videos in Portuguese, I could encourage the platform to introduce my content to people throughout Brazil. Those viewers could respond, follow me, and participate in conversations. Through livestreaming, I could speak directly with people from different parts of the country, all while sitting in my home in South Florida.
The technology had changed, but the learning strategy was essentially the same.
In Newark, I had deliberately moved into an environment where I could immerse myself in Portuguese. With Brian Brasil, I was deliberately creating that environment through social media.
I didn't need to travel to Brazil or relocate to another Brazilian neighborhood. I could use the algorithm, the videos I created, and the relationships I developed to bring opportunities for language immersion directly into my everyday life.
And this time, I could develop my Portuguese while simultaneously learning how to build a social media audience.
I was taking a learning strategy that had worked for me decades earlier, combining it with new technology and my experience creating content, and shaping it into something entirely new.
Another example of those shards of knowledge fusing together through intentional learning.
My first video was about as simple as you can imagine.
"Hi, I'm Brian. Who are you?"
That's it.
Today, that introductory video has approximately 292,000 views and has brought me about 10,500 followers. People are still discovering it more than a year after I published it. The video continues to reach new viewers, some of whom decide to follow my account and join the conversations I'm having with other Brazilians.
But the numbers are only part of the story.
From the beginning, I was deliberately working toward two learning goals. Every time I created a video or hosted a livestream, I had an opportunity to practice Portuguese while learning how to attract viewers and develop relationships with an audience.
I was observing which subjects interested people, how viewers responded to different videos, and how conversations developed during livestreams. At the same time, I was listening to regional accents, learning unfamiliar expressions, and becoming more comfortable speaking Portuguese spontaneously.
The two learning goals reinforced each other.
My interest in improving my Portuguese motivated me to keep creating content and interacting with people. Those interactions gave me practical experience with TikTok and helped me understand how to develop an audience.
I was also experimenting with different approaches to publishing content.
I'd create a video, publish it, observe how viewers responded, and use that information to make decisions about future videos. Some approaches attracted more interest than others. By comparing the results, I developed a better understanding of what encouraged people to watch, comment, and participate.
That's one of the things I find most interesting about adult learning. We can take responsibility for our own development. We can identify specific learning goals, draw on previous experiences, create opportunities to practice, and evaluate whether our activities are helping us achieve those goals.
We don't have to wait for someone else to design a learning experience for us.
As my audience grew, I began making more deliberate decisions about the community I wanted to develop and how I would present myself as Brian Brasil.
What began as an experiment in language learning and social media became an opportunity to establish ongoing relationships with people across Brazil.
Today, more than 55,000 people follow Brian Brasil, and I livestream nearly every day. I speak with people from different regions of Brazil, each bringing their own accents, vocabulary, cultural references, and ways of expressing themselves.
And my Portuguese?
It has improved phenomenally.
I now feel fully fluent, whether I'm chatting casually with friends or speaking professionally to a large group of people. My confidence comes from having practiced the language consistently in conversations with people who use Portuguese every day.
I created an environment where speaking Portuguese became a regular part of my life, even though I was living in the United States.
When I look back at how I developed Brian Brasil, I can identify the knowledge and experiences I deliberately drew upon.
My friendships in Newark taught me the value of learning languages through personal interaction. My interest in languages motivated me to seek new opportunities to practice Portuguese. My experience creating videos gave me a foundation for producing content. My interest in technology encouraged me to explore how TikTok's algorithm could connect me with people in Brazil.
And my background in adult education helped me recognize that I could design a learning experience around my own goals.
Each of those experiences contributed something valuable. But it was my decision to combine what I'd learned from them that made the experiment possible.
And that brings me back to the glassblower.
The artist doesn't simply gather pieces of glass and hope they become something beautiful. The artist selects the materials, applies heat to fuse them, and uses knowledge, skill, and creativity to shape the molten glass into a finished work.
The process involves deliberate decisions. The artist determines which materials to use, how to combine them, and what form the finished work should take.
There may be unexpected results during the process, but the artist remains actively involved in shaping the final creation.
I believe lifelong learning works much the same way.
In Co-Active coaching, we believe that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole.
I've always been particularly interested in that last word. Whole.
We bring our accumulated knowledge, skills, interests, and experiences to every new learning opportunity. When we decide to learn something, we don't begin without resources. We already possess knowledge and abilities that can support our development.
We can examine those resources, identify how they relate to our goals, and deliberately combine them with new learning experiences.
Brian Brasil didn't happen by accident. I identified two things I wanted to learn, considered what I already knew about language learning and content creation, and designed an activity that would allow me to pursue both goals simultaneously.
The results have exceeded what I originally imagined, and I continue to develop both my Portuguese and my understanding of social media through the community I've created.
That's what excites me about lifelong learning. We can take an active role in our own development, drawing on the knowledge and experiences we've accumulated to create new opportunities for ourselves.
What knowledge, skills, and experiences could you deliberately combine to create your next learning opportunity?
