Are you an autodidact?

Hey there,

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most persuasive writers of his time.

Did he go to creative writing classes?

No way.

The founding father was essentially self taught, when it came to writing.

(in fact, most good writers tend to be self taught like him)

Being able to learn new stuff by yourself is a superpower.

Why?

The pace of our society is only accelerating.

In years past, you got out of college with a reasonably complete & up-to date mastery of your field.

Now you graduate as a mere noob.

You then need to pick up skills as you go.

You discover than some knowledge you need is not available in a class format.

You're gonna have to face this alone.

ie. become self taught.

But when you do that, you get freedom.

You don't depend on a professor choosing the pace at which you study.

You get to pick material that's actually good and helpful to you.

(pretty neat)

So how do we go about it?

First you find out your study style.

There’s a spectrum and you probably fall somewhere in the middle.

I call it the Practicality Spectrum.

One extreme is for people who enjoy learning with down-to-earth, real life projects, picking up some theory along the way, as an afterthought.

The other end of the spectrum are folks who like rules and theory.

A good example is language learners. Some swear only by immersion, other study vocab lists and grammar rules.

Knowing where you are on this spectrum can spare you a world of effort and frustration.

Now you have to find your entry point.

What I mean by that is a single ressource that you can use with your current level of knowledge on the topic.

It can be a book, some videos, tutorials.

It should be appropriate to your learning style.

(the spectrum, remember?)

lt should give you a general overview of the topic.

Meaning you can now understand other more advanced resources.

(and you know how and where to look for those)

It should be standalone.

Now that you know your learning style and that you're ready to look for your entry point, where do you actually find it?

Years ago, your only option was a library or a bookstore.

Now, we don't live in caves anymore.

You can find communities about any subject on the internet.

Don't bother with search engines, they push paid promotions to the front.

Go to reddit, find a subreddit about what you want to learn and check their recommendations. They usually have a list of beginner resources or a Discord server.

Evaluate the ressources you find as potential entry points that fall somewhere along the Practicality Spectrum and you’re golden.

Now you know how to learn whatever strikes your fancy.

Classical Latin, computer science algorithms, public speaking.

You name it.

Until next time.

After Class.