Tips On Acquiring A New Skill
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Tips On Acquiring A New Skill

Paolo FortichVideo4 Comments

I recently challenged myself to learn new skills and these are, to code, to play a musical instrument, and to skateboard. Why not?

I’m no longer in my late teens to be taking up a course on programming, I’m no longer a kid who’s playing around with skateboard, and also, I’m no longer young enough to learn how to play a ukulele.

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Well, in a span of sixty days, I was able cross-out two of the skills I wanted to learn, skateboard and ukulele, coding is next!

Here are three of my takeaways on how I acquired new skills:

  1. Be Intentional. If you want something, go for it, make it happen. I wanted to play a musical instrument and I found the ukulele to be interesting, so I bought one. I researched on resources that would help me learn, within one week I was already able to play a song and was able to find an online teacher. To learn was a decision that I made and that decision paid dividends for me.
  2. Be Patient. Learning is not a one-time event, it is a process. It takes repetition for muscle memory to develop. It takes practice to master a skill. Most of all, it takes time. Remember, a seed does not grow into tree overnight. The fact that you are trying to learn something new is a huge accomplishment already.
  3. Enjoy. As the saying goes “time flies when you are having fun”. Appreciate every step of the way. I took a handful of hard falls when I went out the first time to learn how to skate. When I started to find my balance and ride for several yard I felt that it was epic, and all the falls were all worth it.

Learning a new skill is possible, as long as you try. Have patience and have fun too.

I’m using my takeaways as a proof of concept that I will be able to learn how to code, soon.

Update:

Learning another skill: quick amateur video editing.

3 Tips To Success On Working From Home
Idea · Work

3 Tips To Success On Working From Home

Paolo FortichAside2 Comments

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Working online or working at home is an attractive proposition, to name a few: you don’t have to drive or commute to work, you don’t need to take shower (though most do) every morning, you do not have to dress up, your Boss cannot breath behind your neck, you can juggle work and chores (I know someone who cooks while on an online meeting), and most online jobs allow a relatively flexible schedule.

But working from home, or work from home jobs, is not for everyone. It is not as stable as an office job but it can be rewarding too. It all depends on your risk appetite.

I’ve been an online professional for a year and if I have to sum up how I flourished I could think of three things that helped me:

  1. Establish a routine – create and stick to a schedule. If you work from home, there will be a lot of distraction because people will assume that you are available anytime. To counter this, let them know your schedule; when you are working and when you are free. This has been really helpful to me because I am able to minimize distractions so I can work and be more productive. When you are new, it’s going to take a little getting used to, especially to the people at home.
  2. Dedicate a space for work – Yes, it does help. When you are in that space it gives you a mentality that you are “working” and the people around you will know that you should not be disturbed. It helps as well that you are comfortable: tolerable noise and room temperature, based on study lighting affects mood and performance too. Of course, feel free to take quick breaks and work at any spot at home to break the monotony (in my case, the living room sofa is where I do my creative planning stuff or the occasional trip to the coffee shop).
  3. Network and have fun – Don’t forget that we are social beings, we need people to talk to, to interact with, to exchange ideas with, to de-stress, to share hobbies with, to share our lives with, and etc. Network to have more professional connections, you never know where the next great opportunity will come from. Network to have better quality of life, we are human after all, we need people to enrich our lives and people need us to enrich their lives. Have fun, you’ll have a lot of opportunity to do so.

That sums up what I have learned working online (and from home) so far. If you are planning to make the jump, consider these things.