Education does not stop when school is out. The best way to get ahead of the competition is to outlearn them everyday. In the words of Steve Martin, you have to “become so good that they cannot ignore you.” Learning will always be apart of the recipe for growth and advancement throughout life. Listed are a few points of wisdom gained when journeying out to learn in new and unknown areas. Hopefully this guidance can help out along the way when starting out!

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” ― Alvin Toffler

1. Finish One Task

The mind weeps when there are too many choices on where to decide to put effort, make the decision easy by focusing on a single book or course. Make it your sole goal to finish that project of learning before you start on some else. When I start to struggle with one topic, I feel myself wanting to pull away and find else, leading to quick hopping between material that leads to basic levels of comprehension. I want to avoid the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none conundrum, so avoid this slumping habit. Focus on a concentrated progress.

2. Invest in yourself

There are weird motivating factors that drive the process – and strangely when funds are invested into the learning process it is more difficult to give up. Wasting the money spent is hard to do – especially compared to simply walking away from something that was found for free – you have no skin in the learning game! This does not need to be a large sum – for example look for Udemy courses that are on sale or have coupons searchable on google – they typically drop the price from hundreds of dollars to around 5-15! TeamTreehouse also has a student discount if you share with them your email address from that institution.

3. Use a curated course – FreeCodeCamp Udemy, Treehouse, Udacity

Some people are more disciplined than others – if the idea of finding material seems daunting enough – reach out to a highly rated online course. These options are increasingly daily – and they allow for built in structure and guidance.

4. Use a book

The book is with you in this struggle, it is harder to put off. It will show you the effects of your struggle, the book will tear, smear, and show life where a PDF or online document stays boringly static. The marks on the book tells the story of your journey.

You can file away that PDF, but the book is harder to ignore. It reminds you when you see it sitting on your desk that you should keep going with your progress. I love looking at the book and see how far I am by looking at my dog-eared pages tucked away inside, it makes me feel like I am moving forward like nothing else.

If a book will be used – I recommend going straight to Amazon and typing in certain keywords for the topic. Try to find the book that is up-to-date, has a decent amount of reviews, and is the highest rated. Read the reviews to ensure the book is right for you. This process will help ensure you are not going to be soured by the purchase of the text.

5.Take the time you need for progress

Trying to hurry up the learning process is like expecting a tree to grow in a few days. Learning is a marathon, not a sprint.

6.You will get overwhelmed – Do not stress

Set a timer for 20 mins and fall asleep when tired from learning. It is always surprising how this little cat nap can reinvigorate the mind.

7. Learn everyday – even if it is 5 minutes – it counts.

This helps establish the habit of learning – which is more effective than cramming information in huge sessions periodically. Five minutes is all that is needed to establish the act of learning when downtime arises.

8. Publish your journey online

Work that is not online means little to nothing to the outside world.

If a tree falls in a forest with no one around does it make a sound?

Set up a twitter account to post progress.

I started doing this because I theorized that an ongoing record would be more substantive than simply saying I completed some learning. But, this twitter account became a motivating factor when I got down in the dumps and frustrated. When I looked back at what I had done, I could show myself real strides. This reinforcement helps when you need it most. A surprising and unexpected outcome that makes me highly recommend you do the same.

Make a personal blog

Set up a blog to put updates on what you are working on, basic information about yourself, and possibly your resume and a link to your twitter account were you are posting more granular progress reports.

When making a blog – start small – even a single page with a few sentences, name, and bio is better than nothing!

9. Do not stop

There will be points when you would rather watch television or browse the internet instead of using your time for learning. Your mind will think hard and fast for excuses why you do not want to do it anymore. In these situations, I have found that if I tell myself I will accomplish one chapter or at least one exercise, then I will be okay for that day. This way I will not feel guilty for doing other things, if one keeps a habit, progress will be made. Do not force yourself to do too much right away, pacing is key to establishing a learning trend.