Seth Godin brings up the question about the relationship between the thirst for knowledge and the achievement of success—and the order in which they occur.
The relationship, if any, in my opinion is pretty loose. I’ve been successful with things I’ve stumbled into and later researched. And been successful by learning then doing. And, I’ve had failures that followed “learning” because not every “secret to success” works or can be formulized.
Luck plays such a huge part in success that many educated people are often frustrated by lack of success, especially when they see someone less bright get very lucky with what seems like an absurd idea!
I say you can’t learn too much. Keep learning. Do it for yourself. You’ll be better off in many ways—perhaps even more successful. Learning does not have to come entirely from books. If you are interested in rocks, go out and look at some. Trees? Take pictures, make a catalog. You can learn by doing, experimenting, playing.
And if you continue to learn, you will get better at who you are. That will improve your luck.