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Bryce Roberts (bryce)

I’m convinced you can become 90% proficient at most trades or skills with a combination of YouTube videos and practice. The depth and breadth of YT content never ceases to amaze me.
6:33 PM - 5 Jun 2019 118
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#3

For me, the biggest thing about self-teaching is putting the knowledge into practice. When I put things into practice I understand them not only on an intellectual level but on experiential - information becomes know-how. (most of the times)

Once I understand I want to learn about something sometimes its hard to find “how to materials” because it internet is full of information and it’s difficult for me to pick up what’s right and what’s not especially if there are some contradictions in forums or articles… besides that different solutions work for different people as well.

Creating a study/working/writing even meditation/relaxing environment is an important aspect for me as well. I realized that having a specific area/place where I can work increases my time there and my productivity as well. I’ve read this article recently on designing your environment.

Writing and reviewing helps me as well, it’s similar to putting things into practice you are getting a better sense of the thing you learn for example if I am reading about mindfulness & meditation I will write a post afterward interpreting what I’ve read and that way it sticks to my head.

Making mistakes “fail early, fail often” I am adopting this growth mindset where I learn from my mistakes. I see my goal as a target and every mistake I made I consider it calibration to reach that target, so it is basically not a mistake but an insight or a lesson.

Any tips on finding how to find materials/relevant info, setting deadlines and measurering of progress?

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#4

You’re right. I actually do a bit of this too. I work where my mood takes me. Sometimes it’s to seek people, and I go hang out at a co-working space. Sometimes I feel like retiring to my cave, and I work from my kitchen bar top (like now :wink: ).

I like how the article you mention points to also looking at the little things, like how you’ve fixed settings on your phone. For instance, I do a regular app-culling exercise with the goal of removing stuff I don’t really need/use. All these things evolve towards a crafted environment, eventually.

I don’t really have a reference to share, but some thoughts. For one, I see measurement and mindfulness as conflicting. Trivial tasks are easy to measure, but the more complex figuring out work takes place under a shower, or during a walk with the dog. My experience is when you’re in search/sense mode then tracking progress mostly leads to frustration about lack of it.

What I do have some experience with is in using Trello to get a sense of velocity & momentum. By no means am I proficient in it (like my typing here now is not captured in any Trello card, #lol)

But defining tasks, and making definitions of done for work visible, thinking about workload, and available capacity beforehand, is an interesting reference point for thinking about what is progress, and then checking whether you are making progress. From my experience you get it wrong a lot. Yet by keeping on trying, I have hope to find a flow.

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#5

That’s so true I often find myself into these situations.

That’s exactly where I am at (trying and getting it wrong and learn from it, trying again), and talking about flow it always requires a little bit of challenge. Flow is when you skillset matches the challenge, if the challenge is too big I get frustrated; if my skill set is above it happens that I get bored… it’s an interesting process.

Thank you for the tips and shared experience!