Learning how to Learn

I love to learn new stuff. But I have a problem.

I often find myself immersed in learning something new with an intense focus. However, ultimately, the interest will start to wane after some time and I will move on to the next thing.

Although I was a Network Engineer earlier on in my career, at the back of my mind, I have always been fascinated by programming, Cloud computing, DevOps and many more cool stuff. Like many others, I bought many e-books, followed many online tutorials and learnt a bit of everything.

The problem is this: I always find my interest waning after a few weeks, and ultimately ditching what I was so driven to do after some time.

All that started to change when I chanced upon this YouTube video from /r/learnprogramming FAQ:

Although the video was on how to learn to code, there was 1 thing that stood out to me the most.

I did not identify the problems that I wanted to solve. I did not have goals that excite me enough to keep me learning.

I needed to re-calibrate my previous approach in order to give my learning journey more longevity. I should start learning only when I have the end in mind.

I did not want to get too hung up on planning the perfect end product before starting. Quickly derive the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and immediately start working towards it.

And that is how I learnt how to learn.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.