The internet carries with it many benefits, suffice to say, the most important of these benefits is the abundance of information that can be found in it. Currently, the internet is not only good for getting help for your assignments from websites like homeworkdoer.org, but also learning just about any bunch of skills you would want to acquire. Here are just a few of the abilities you might want and you can easily learn online;
New languages, branches of mathematics or science, different cooking methods, you can master a new sport, skills on how to run a business and manage effectively, public speaking skills or be you can train your communication and persuasion skills, etc.
Learning something on your own takes a bit more than casual trial-and-error. Here’s what I’ve found to be important in making self-education work:
1. Identify the end result.
Have an idea of what should you be able to do, achieve or know after completing your learning process. The best efforts at self-education have always had specific applications. The more precise the requirements of the knowledge, the faster you can learn. For example, do you just want to speak Spanish, or do you want to be 95% fluent in a basic Spanish conversation?
Why is this important?
If you don’t identify the result you want, how will you know when you have reached this? If you constantly push yourself to learn more without stopping to praise yourself for what you have achieved so far, you could find yourself falling out of love with learning. Therefore, always know your end goal. You should aim to make smaller goals in between to make this more manageable. When you reach these mini-goals, look at how far you have come each time and assess how close you are to your end result.
2. Buy a How-To educational book.
Internet articles and scattered resources can help, but a book anchored in solid foundation is far superior. There are hundreds of how-to books on every skill and branch of knowledge. Books can give you a foundation that simple trial-and-error cannot. Make sure to spend some time researching the best books on the market. You don’t want to waste your time trying to put in place learning methods that just do not work. Check out video reviews and top-rated listicles online to find the best books available. You should also ensure that you are picking relevant books to what you are studying. While there might be an amazing educational book that teaches you about the different learning styles and how to harness them, this will only take you so far. The combination of study-specific books and more general how-to educate yourself books will ensure that you can learn everything in your chosen subject more successfully.
3. Identify prerequisites of the skills you want to gain.
Learning programming requires basic math just like blogging requires basic computer, writing and marketing skills. Similarly, basketball requires ball handling and movement skills. Therefore, you need to know what background skills you need before you start, so you can pick them up before or while you try to master your skill on the internet.
You can also find what background skills you need using the internet, but you may find some helpful advice in the books you have picked up. Once you know precisely the skills you need, write these down. Whether you choose to make a note on your phone or create a list in a notebook about your progress, you can keep on track with your progress. By seeing it all written down, you can refer back to this list time and time again.
4. The deadlines you set determine the time investment you will have to make.
If you want to learn something in three months, then that can mean an hour a week or several hours a day depending on the discipline you have. Your deadlines determine how much time you need to invest.
You need to be realistic with this, of course. Studying something like a new (but easy) language can take on average 480 hours to learn just the basic fluency. If your goals are to be completely fluent, then you need to set aside more time. Likewise, if the language is more difficult, you will not reach your goals within the same timeframe.
If you only did an hour a week, then it is going to take a long time to reach your goal. Therefore, you would need to put in a lot more hours every week or daily to be able to learn something within three months. In fact, you would need to study for more than five hours every day for this to happen. However, this is just one example. Everything that you teach yourself will need to have a different deadline for reaching your goal. For example, learning to draw and being very good could take at least two years. With your chosen goal, do plenty of research into what is an appropriate deadline for you and the subject matter. If you gain the skills and knowledge before the deadline, then this is great. However, you don’t want to feel disheartened if your deadline passes and you still haven’t seen much improvement.
Once you set your deadlines, realistically think about your current schedule. Do you work full time? Do you have a family to take care of? Do you socialize a lot with friends and your extended family? Then, of course, you have to factor in time for relaxing, eating, and sleeping. With all this in mind, you could find that it is impossible to put in five or more hours of studying a new language every day. Therefore, you should extend the deadline. If you are able to put in an hour a day, you might be able to meet your goal in about a year. This could be more realistic for you, or it might still be unachievable. For instance, you may not have time to fit it in one day. You could adjust your study time as and when, so doing two hours in one day instead. However, this will require a lot of self-discipline.
5. You will need to be patient.
Self-education isn’t more difficult than classroom learning although it can prove harder when you reach a dead-end and don’t have a teacher to guide you through. Your ability to educate yourself will match closely with your ability to persevere and keep trying when you want to give up.
Don’t be too harsh on yourself if you don’t pick up the skills straight away. Learning takes a varied amount of time for each subject matter, but it also depends on your skill level, to begin with. If you are a complete beginner, you are learning from scratch and getting yourself familiar with everything. Therefore, you can expect yourself to be perfect from the very start.
You may feel tempted to compare your progress with another person’s progress, but this should not be something you do. You should only ever compare yourself against yourself. This way, you won’t feel frustrated that you aren’t picking up the skills as quickly as another person and give up as a result.
6. Back to basics.
Any skill is based on several core understandings or abilities. Even huge algorithms are based on simple programming concepts such as loops and variables. Cooking is based on simple techniques like grilling roasting or broiling. Similarly, any dance is based on a core pattern of steps. When you master the basics, then learning advanced skills becomes easy.
The saying “don’t run before you can walk” is what you need to constantly remind yourself of. Although the basic stuff may seem boring in comparison, it will be vital so never neglect it.
7. Don’t be afraid to sail several times.
It is easy to stumble into handling the same challenges repeatedly, but they don’t teach you anything new. Add new elements every time and keep practicing so that your learning curve doesn’t flatten out.
It is likely that during your learning hours that you will not always be perfect, but learning from your mistakes and failures is great.
8. The 15-Minute Break Rule.
If you get stuck on something, promise to give yourself only fifteen minutes of complete focus. If you can’t solve your problem by that point, take a short break. Giving yourself less than fifteen minutes of focus means you lack the persistence necessary to learn. Always know that creating space between yourself and a problem can renew your creative energies towards solving it.
Spending hours trying to figure it out won’t necessarily mean that by the end, you have learned anything. In fact, you are likely to feel even more frustrated that you have spent all this time with nothing to show for it. Therefore, make this 15-minute rule part of your studying time and see what a difference it can make to your learning experience.
9. Always know the point of your education.
Necessity is the best teacher you can have. If you don’t think you need to learn something, it is going to be difficult to push through frustration points. By making your self-education a built-in part of your goals, you’re driven to learn out of more than random curiosity.
If you really are struggling to understand the point of your self-education, then maybe you need a little bit more guidance and support from those who can help remind you. Online courses provide this kind of support and could ensure that you are working towards a certificate or degree and are constantly reminded just why you are educating yourself.
In some cases, applying to online schools is actually the only way you can properly learn something anyway. Take nursing, for example. While you can teach yourself new skills, without the proper qualifications, you won’t be able to put your learning into action properly. There aren’t many times where the aim is to learn a new skill that you then won’t use. You want to put what you learn into practice and even use it to help propel your career and salary prospects.
Of course, there is nothing stopping you from still teaching yourself. It could actually help you when you start applying for online programs. However, you should understand exactly what is suitable for self-teaching and what you need to head back to school to make the most of your skills.
If you want to move forward in your career, such as becoming an FNP rather than a registered nurse, this is a great point for furthering your education. An FNP earns a better salary than RN’s, has great job security, more flexibility, and choice in their working environment due to being in-demand; plus, they get great job satisfaction. These benefits make it a worthy career role to take on, and so rather than educating yourself in your spare time, you should apply to a nursing school that offers a DNP without GRE requirements for admission. There is a reason for your education, and with the support offered on your course, you will soon reach this point and be reminded that there is a purpose for you working hard to educate yourself.
10. Join forums and interactions with peers of the same skill.
Just as there is a how-to book on anything, there is a forum about anything you want to learn. Online forums can prove to be a lifesaver for you if you get stuck. Reach out to these forums when you need advice on learning a particular skill or ask if they have any tips for getting better. Many forums are welcome to beginners and are happy to guide you through. Even if you don’t ever post, these forums can be a great place to get advice from others who have posted and replied. Simply look at the previous conversations that have taken place, and you may find that your question has already been answered.
If you are going to educate yourself on the internet, you want to take note of all of these tips included in this article.
