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I think letting someone else take care of your education, of your learning and be responsible for your development is boring. It's quite naive, and frankly foolish. It's something that you need to be in charge of.
Hence, I’ve tried to take charge of these things in my life. It’s not always easy, and it’s most certainly not always comfortable. But I think it’s necessary if you want it to happen.
No one else is going to.
→ Making something a priority
When I develop a habit, like taking a programming course daily, or start reading again, I do my best to make it a priority. That can be done in a variety of ways, like setting up principles (if this then that. A tangible example: If I’ve got a seat on my commute, I read the book I have with me), cutting out time, having some incentives and so on.
I think this goes for many other behaviours other than creating a habit for learning or upskilling. If you think something is important, you have to make it a priority. Find your way of doing that, and then relentlessly prioritise it.
→ The how
I’ve tried all sorts of way of upskilling. From going to conferences to taking online courses. They all work in some capacity. Some are preferred, others are necessary. What I’ve seen is that putting things into practice is crucial. It doesn’t matter if you’ve started a course if you don’t use the material that you pick up during the course. Same goes for my programming skills.
When I learn something new, I try to use it as much as possible. It lets me understand the tool that I’ve acquired, see what nails are responsive and which aren’t.
But don’t get too hung up on whether you should read a book or look at youtube videos. It doesn’t matter, as long as you try whatever it is you’re learning. Fail. And practice.
→ You don’t need to be strategic about it
I very rarely actively seek out a skill to acquire it. I get interested and start studying, then applying. That’s my way of doing it. That said, I rarely quit. If I’ve committed, I stick it out until I’ve come far enough for the skill to be useful. Until I know I have it in my arsenal and feel that I can comfortably execute on it.
A lot of buzz is about picking the right skills. That’s important, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. Learning how to crochet is probably not going to give you as high earning potential as learning to code. It might earn you just as much if you enjoy doing it more that coding tho! And you might have a lot more fun doing it.
The point is, learn skills that feel fun and energising. That nourish you rather than drain you. Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.
<aside> <img src="/icons/exclamation-mark_gray.svg" alt="/icons/exclamation-mark_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Oh, and the whole thing is edited with Descript to be able to have the subtitles. It also spares you of all my uhms and ahs, which is the reason to why it jumps every now and then.
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