Learning a new skill takes time, but how much?
In the modern age post the ‘Great Resignation’, people are looking to gain new skills to help jumpstart their careers. Some people are looking to add skills to their existing skillset to pad their resume or impress their boss. Others are jumping to a new industry entirely, trying to leverage their existing skill sets from their career experience to synthesize new knowledge.
Personally, I love learning new skills. I find the process engaging and exciting. It’s a process of discovery for me. Articles, videos, courses, books, anything. I’ll take knowledge where I can get it.
However, there are times where I need to grasp a new concept or skill in a limited amount of time.(Deadlines, anyone?)
That’s who this post is for. Keep reading, we’ll tackle some of my most effective strategies for learning something in a short amount of time.
1) Plan Your Proficiency
Before I decide to learn a new skill, I take notice of two factors: My starting point and desired goal.
Where am I starting from?
What do I need to accomplish with this skill?
With this information, I can get a better understanding of where I’m at with my learning and compare it to where I need to end up. Additionally, this helps me gauge how well I’m going to adapt to learning a particular new skill.
For example, if I need to learn how to knit in a month, I’m going to start by knitting something over the first week. If my knitting is terrible and I’m not adapting well to learning knitting, I know that I’m going to have to consider some additional factors within the next 3 weeks that help me close the learning gap that I’m struggling with. Leading us to our next factor… which is…
2) Load Up On Resources
(But don’t get too crazy.)
I understand everyone learns differently. Some people can learn by reading instructions like a recipe, others need verbal instruction, some people need to actually perform the task first.
Regardless of how you learn, ensure that you have the right resources that you need.
Personally, I like to have a mixture of everything. So, if I decided I need to learn knitting, I’m likely to find a knitting blog for some tips and tricks, watch some knitting videos on YouTube to give me a visual idea of what to do, or listen to some podcasts/videos of people describing the knitting process. When looking for resources, don’t limit yourself to 1 or 2 ‘well-known’ resources. Get out there and do your own research!
3) Internalize Your New Knowledge. (Make it applicable)
Let’s say one month has gone by and my knitting skills have skyrocketed. We’re talking like…. I’m making socks, shirts, blankets, all by hand.
Sure, I’ve learned some really nifty skills at this point. But like any skill or practiced habit, it’s use it or lose it. If I stopped knitting now, I’m likely to forget what I’ve learned. Even if I slow down, my skills will likely take a hit. What am I supposed to do here?
Internalize the knowledge.
With this, I’m going to be taking factors, facets, and experiences that I’ve gained through learning how to knit and comparing/contrasting them with other factors in my everyday life.
The goal here is: How can I practically use my knitting knowledge in the real world?
I may not be walking up to places trying to stitch them together, but I may be able to identify certain knitting patterns and stitch types. Let’s say, I take a visit to a museum. I might be able to look at some old tapestries and learn more about knitting or textiles from that time period.
The idea here is to keep your knowledge relevant, even if you’re not actively using it on a regular basis.
Wrap Up
If you’re learning a new skill and having some trouble, try out some of the tips above. They may help you. If not, just know that learning is not easy for everyone and you may need to restructure your approach depending on the content and subject matter.
If these tips helped you, feel free to engage with me on other socials and let me know!
