We entrepreneurs, marketers or engineers always need to learn any skill. And to be honest you can not be successful in any career if you are not learning all the time. In fact, if you know of a career that does not require any learning at all please comment below, I would love to know about it. So the fact is that you and I are learning every day at all times. You are doing your best and I am doing mine. At least we both are trying, right?
But when was the last time you had learned any skill. That is by watching an online course, hiring a trainer or even by reading a book. Then implement it in real life. Implementing something that you have learned will give a true meaning to the effort that you have put up to learn the skill. Or else it will just be a waste of time.
So you will learn how to learn and implement what you have learned. And obviously not waste any time.
Steps To Learn And Implement In Real Life:
Step 1
Pick up something that you would like to learn. It can be a practical skill like playing chess or programming. Or it can just be anything at all. But make sure that you do not learn something just because everyone is learning it.
That is, for example, you are a marketer and the trending subject of learning seems to be rocket science. Just DO NOT jump into rocket science if you have no interest in it at all. In the end, you will not learn it if you are not interested in it. You will just end up torturing yourself.
So pick up something that you want to learn and have the interest in. Then you can learn it faster and perform better.
Step 2
After picking up what you want to learn then you need to choose what will be your source for learning. Will you learn from a book or do you feel like online courses are a better option to you? You can even hire a professional personal trainer for learning if you can afford it.
But you have to be very much comfortable with your medium of learning. If you are not comfortable to learn from the medium then you are going to take a lot of time. So always pick the medium that you can afford and are comfortable to learn from.
Now you might be thinking about all the motivational quotes and stuff from social media. Which all says that you have to be uncomfortable to achieve greatness. Yes, you have to be uncomfortable but that is while you are doing the work or implementing the skill in real life or while you are practicing it. You do not have to be uncomfortable while you are learning something.
Step 3
It is time for you to start learning. Make a schedule every single day and always include an hour for you to learn the skill. If you cannot make time for about an hour then at least spent 30 minutes everyday. And do not skip a single day while you are learning.
Because once you start learning you are in a cycle. But if you do not learn for one day then you will not learn the skill next day as well. There is high chance that you will not. Your heart is not going to cooperate with you. If this happens you have to get back into the cycle again. Which will be hard for you.
So always learn each and every day. And do not even think of skipping a day or taking a day off.
Step 4
It is time to get your hands dirty. And if you are learning to create your garden then you have to dirty your hands for real. Start to practice what you have learned. Try to free up an extra hour every day for you to practice the skill.
If you are not practicing what you have learned then you are never going to be able to use your knowledge. Put it up for use. And start to help people with it.
Such as if you are learning to create an android application then make an android application for a non-profit organization. This way you can build up a nice credibility in the market. And you will also be able to help others.
Step 5
This is the step to mastery. You cannot just learn a skill and not master it. In fact, if you cannot master it will not help you in the long term. So you have to be dedicated to master it. Commit to the skill and practice it every day and learn more about it every single day.
A quick way top mastery is teaching others. You can master a skill just by teaching people. When you teach someone what you have learned, you will be able to relate everything and connect the missing lines. But before you start to teach some you already know about what you are teaching. Or else you might just be teaching the wrong stuff to others.
Conclusion:
Finding a skill to learn can be very much daunting and confusing in the beginning but do not get blinded by the trend. Pick your medium for learning wisely. It will save you a lot of time.
Keep on learning and practicing every single day. If you skip one single day, then you will not learn the next day. Finally, start to teach if possible do it for free, then you will gain credibility and trust. You will also be able to add value to the lives of many people.
Learning is a skill and you can start learning how to learn very easily from this very moment. It is one of the most sought out skill in this world.
I think this is all good advice, Sadman -- from picking what to learn in the first place, to sticking with it, to implementing the skill, to teaching it to someone else. I myself find it locks in my learning when I explain it to someone else.
I think it's also good to be careful about not taking too much learning on at once. I mean to give oneself a reasonable chance to consolidate one new skill before taking on the learning of another. I sometimes have taken on the study of too many new skills simultaneously and have become overwhelmed.