Feeling like you need a career change? Or maybe you need to learn a new skillset to advance in your current career path, but doing so feels overwhelming and you don’t know where to start?
After earning a pre-med degree from Cornell University, I decided to switch fields entirely and went to the University of Colorado Boulder to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. Along the way, I branched out and took courses in UX design, graphic design, front-end web development, architecture, sculpture, and more. Today I’m an inventor on multiple patented or patent-pending products and have rebranded several businesses to better speak to their customers. I’ve been a waiter, a sandwich maker, a tour guide, a library staff member, a catering staff member, a mover, a barback, a bartender, a standardized test tutor, a product designer, and a creative director.
Nobody in their right mind would plan a career trajectory like mine, but if there’s one thing I learned, it’s how to learn, and I’m here to share some key tips on how you can tackle your next learning challenge.
Tip #1: Determine your learning style
Text books suck. In an age where kids are learning how to work an ipad before they learn how to read, I have not the slightest clue why top-tier universities are still trying to force students to learn from textbooks. I can vividly remember being in Olin library my sophomore year of college at about 1 am trying to read a page in my organic chemistry textbook. I’d start at the top and get three quarters of the way down the page only to realize that I had zoned out after the first 2 sentences and was just reading meaningless text. This happened 4 times in a row on the same page, and if you resonate with this at all, then this tip is for you.
Before you dive in, you need to figure out what learning style suits you best. For me, textbooks felt like torture. Khan Academy, on the other hand, had videos that explained complex topics in very simple ways. If I zoned out, I could just rewind and rewatch, but the beauty is that I didn’t zone out nearly as often watching a well-curated video. Obviously Khan Academy doesn’t have videos on every topic, and it doesn’t go quite as far as many college courses do, but it’s a great starting point to build foundational knowledge, and other resources like LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda), Coursera, or even Youtube can help fill in the gaps. If you don’t know what Khan Academy is, stop reading right now and go to their website (okay, keep reading, but check it out ASAP).
Tip #2: Learn what you need to learn
Different people face different challenges when it comes to learning. For some people, it’s maintaining focus, for others, staying motivated. The most difficult moments for me have been when I’ve realized that I don’t know what I don’t know, and this tends to be a common challenge for those who are learning on their own rather than taking an established course.
If you’re diving into learning a new topic, you may want to take a moment to do some research. Start by looking up what topics are covered in traditional courses that teach what you’re trying to learn, or perhaps find a reputable youtube channel for the topic and see what’s covered in the videos. I’ve recently noticed that AI can be a valuable tool for developing a learning plan. Yes, it’s important to fact check AI, and I wouldn’t recommend using it for everything (more on that in a future post), but simply typing “create a learning plan to make me a [your topic] expert in 30 days” into chat GPT can result in a pretty fantastic plan. From there, you can move on to finding your learning resources.
Tip #3: Use your resources to find great resources
Once you’ve determined your learning style and you’ve developed a plan, it’s time to determine what tools are going to best help you learn. Honestly, this might require some experimentation. For me, videos are usually the go-to, and if I’m learning a new skill and can find something that’s more interactive (such as codecademy for learning a new coding language), then that’s even better. Traditional textbooks don’t usually work well for me, but, depending on the topic, there are plenty of books that have proven to be incredibly helpful.
The one thing that is very important here is to make sure you’re using a reputable learning tool. Remember how your teachers wouldn’t let you use Wikipedia as a source in your papers? Well there was a good reason for that. Anybody can post on the internet. Much of what you’ll find is true and written by experts. Much of what you’ll find isn’t. Just make sure to double check that the tool you’re using is legitimate. And if you’re interested in any of the things I’ve learned about over the years, here are a few resources that I would highly recommend:
Traditional Coursework (especially STEM)
- Khan Academy
Coding
- Codecademy
Brand Design and Marketing (and frankly, many other topics)
- LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda)
- Coursera
Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to dive in
Look. I get it. Learning something entirely new can be more intimidating than the Trader Joe’s parking lot on a Sunday (or Wegmans, for the east-coasters who know about that magical place). It’s incredibly easy to get overwhelmed by how much there is to learn, and sometimes the task seems impossible. It’s not. Remember, an object in motion stays in motion. One learning session motivates you to do another. A few sessions is a pattern. A pattern that you stick with soon becomes a habit. And over time a habit turns into a lifestyle. Take it one day at a time, and before you know it you’ll be an expert in whatever you set out to learn.
Tip #5: Be kind to yourself and be consistent
I cannot stress this enough. Like most others, my parents taught me to “treat others the way that you would like to be treated”, and it stuck (or at least I hope it did), but it took me years to learn how to be kind to myself. Holding yourself to a high standard is great, but learning takes time, some material is just more difficult to comprehend, and we all have bad days. If you’re putting the work in and you find yourself confused or overwhelmed, check to see if there’s another resource that can explain the topic better, or maybe just take a break and come back to it another day. Learning a new skill takes discipline, and the primary reason people fail is that they get burnt out or discouraged and quit. But the real world isn’t an SAT exam. If you’re learning something on your own, it doesn’t matter if you learn the topic more quickly or more slowly than someone else, because once you’ve got it, you’ve got it, and you’ve grown that much further as a professional, person, etc.
If you found this post useful, please share it with friends or reach out and let me know!
If you didn’t find this post useful, or you disliked it, please reach out and let me know! This type of writing is a new skill that I’m trying to learn, and I’m still early in the process, so all honest feedback is incredibly helpful. Thanks for reading 🙂
