By Olaitan Humble
Learning has never been easy as it is in the 21st century. We are exposed to a wealth of resources both online and offline. There was no point in time in history when you were more capable of teaching yourself just about anything than it is today. Despite the preceding, at this age of enlightenment, level of exposure and access to information, only few people take full advantage of the opportunity they have for self-directed learning.
However, this can be solved by acknowledging the fact that picking up new skills is way beyond hitting up Google and giving instructions or requesting information. To achieve the right learning culture, you have to push yourself through the plateaus.
After years of having knowledge spoonfed to you, how well you can take advantage of the pool of information available to you to grow your skillset will take you far in the landscape of work and technology.
Here are 7 simple techniques to teach yourself just about any skill:
Be Open-minded
Open-mindedness in learning gives you the ability to be willing to consider new and different ideas or opinions. You should understand that if you try to force yourself to just memorize, you’re likely to forget them. Break free from the chains of abstractions in order to make your learning stick. It’s important to make real life connections and see how it fits in the larger scheme of things.
Learn by Doing
The best way to learn anything at all is to go through the process of actively engaging in its activities. You cannot learn fashion designing, photography, coding etc. by simply going through its resources or watching videos of how it is done. Observe! Then know when to get your hands dirty and do something practical about that skill that interests you.
Study the Greats, and Continue to Practice
There is the highest possibility that someone has learnt and excelled in that skill that interests you. Find that person (physically or virtually), study their pattern, then put it into practice where necessary. After all, most of our thought processes are not really fresh ones, we only look for creative and modern ways to present our ideas.
Teach What You Learn
To be confident about a thing you have learnt, there is need to teach it to someone else. By so doing, you receive questions which help reconsider your stance whether or not you have established yourself in that knowledge or getting better at it. Either way, it’s a win.
Spend More Time Practicing Things You Find Difficult
Time management in learning is a top priority and should be taken into consideration. There is a high likelihood that you have very limited time to teach yourself since you would have other endeavours to fulfill. More reason not to dwell on your areas of strength—rather, of weakness—to straighten things out as quick as possible.
Test Yourself
Every once in a while, in an attempt to evaluate how far you have come, test yourself. You could do this by having a friend access you, or using resources online, or through AI for more technically-inclined skillsets.
Find A Mentor
As much as we set out to outline how you can successfully teach yourself any skill, we also need to stress the importance of an intermittent mentor for proper assesment. Your mentor could be a virtual one, however. Perhaps that person you admire so much, but has to be an expert in the field of what you aim to teach yourself.
It is worthy of note that starting to embrace this new manner of self-education might be intimidating, but with the right resilience, you will find it just as helpful as it is liberating. See you soon at the top of your game. Godspeed.
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