Good Timber by Douglas Malloch

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The tree that never had to fight For sun and sky and air and light, But stood out in the open plain, And always got its share of rain, Never became a forest king, But lived and died a scrubby thing.   The man who never had to toil, To gain and farm his patch of soil, Who never had to win his share Of sun and sky and light and air, Never became a manly man But lived and died as he began.   Good timber does not grow with ease: The stronger wind, the stronger trees; The further sky, the greater length; The more the storm, the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, In trees and men good timbers grow.   Where thickest lies the forest growth, We find the patriarchs of both. And they hold counsel with the stars Whose broken branches show the scars Of many winds and much of strife. This is the common law of life. - Good Timber by Douglas Malloch
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How to kickstart learning new skills with something fun

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In one of the radio podcasts with "Hello Monday" Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella was asked about Growth Mindset, 
He gave an amazing response "If you take two kids at school, one of them has more innate capability but is a know-it-all. The other person has less innate capability but is a learn-it-all. The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all." 
Click here for the full interview 
So the question becomes how to become a learn it all ? ? how can we learn new things or things that we are deeply passionate about but we don't get the time to do it. 

We learn things due to 2 reasons.
1. Because of Necessity 
2. Because of Curiosity

Why do we learn a new skill due to necessity ?
 Because it's a must have skill and our livelihood depends on it (may be our pay cheque)

Why do we learn a new skill due to curiosity ?  
 It's born out of a deep desire in our heart or it's something we are interested in trying. Its not a must have skill but it's a could have skill.

Learning any new thing requires the following:
1. Time
2. Knowledge
3. Gear
4. Money
5. Access to experts

For now let's consider the easily accessible things 1.Time and 2.Knowledge

Knowledge:
 Knowledge can be obtained by reading books, reading articles over the internet and today we have access to videos and to-do's for every thing over wikipedia, youtube, reddit .. etc. 
Remember - Gaining knowledge is just the beginning of learning the skill it's not the end of it.  

Time:
To get better at something it costs time. 
What to do if we don't have time ? - A question we all face today ... 
 Steal some time from activities that are requesting that resource without paying anything in return. 
    ex. social media, OTT they consume too much of our time without paying much in return.

To learn something we need to decide when are we going to do it. 
The two ways to look at when is:
  1. Macro
  2. Micro
Macro:
  • We need to take a broad look at our time/calendar on what is available ahead of us next month or next foreseeable days. (Things like how much time we need to spend on work, school, vacations, weekends, other important commitments .. etc and what will be left after that) 
  • Based on that we can calculate how much time we have on the coming days that can be spent on working on learning and mastering the skill. 
  • This will reveal two conflicting truths
    • You have more time than you think
    • You have less time than you think
  • A realistic calendar view helps to prevent holding yourself to large expectations.
Micro: 
  • This is simply figuring out what specific days and in what specific time in those days you will work on the skill.
  • Two best ways to find time during the day is
    • Be honest with yourself and see where your time is being spent (or) what is consuming your time
    • Start the day with what matters most - Complete the task that matters the most at the start of the day so that other surprises of the day don't get in the way of getting the most important task completed and ruining the entire day.
Who will help us to learn this new skills:
 We need people to help us in this journey, It may be your partner of a close friend or a like minded team mate, friend .. etc
All we need is ...
  • Someone who can call out on our excuses
  • Someone who can celebrate our successes.
  • Someone who will be tracking our progress with us.
At times we may not like that person and start hating them a little bit, since they will push us out of our comfort zones and make us frustrated. But it's important that we have an accountability partner not an cheerleader (Cheerleader - The one who motivates us only when we are winning). 

How to have fun while learning new skill 
  •  Learning a new skill doesn't need to be miserable, if you can find a way to start it with something fun and easy. 
  • Don't pick up a boring book to start to learn a technology or subject.
  • Check out for newsletters on that topic, videos that explain that topics easily
  •  subscribe to forums where people discuss more on that that subject. 
  • For ex. if you learn a programming language - check out the news letters, journals  and videos on how to's related to that language. Once you get to know the how-to's start to develop a application .. and you will learn as you move along.
  • If you want to strengthen your vocabulary, don't buy a boring book on power words, subscribe to a good newspaper and read the sections that interest you.
  • Once you get a hold of the language start to give presentations to your friends and acquaintances. you will learn as you move forward ... 



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