There’s nothing quite like knowing you helped or entertained another person.
This post originally appeared on theCrew blog.
AsRichard Bransonput it:
“Forget the rules, and learn from first-hand experience instead.
Let’s say you want to try out a new technology.
Maybe a new tool just became available, or a new programming language caught your interest.
So you build a small project solely designed to give you a real-world lab to experiment in.
Learning by doingis often calledexperiential learningby educators and psychologists.
Deliberate practice isa conscious effort to focus on the specific areas of your skills that need work.
It’s painful, and often boring, butit’s what separates pros from amateurs.
When I started learning iOS development I didn’t know how to deliberately practice my skills.
The answer is to build smaller projects just for yourselfprojects that force you to answer tough questions.
Projects that let you focus in on one particular skill or technology at a time.
Another thing I’m terrible at is fiction writing.
If I wanted to get better at that I could work on some short stories.
One could be an exercise in developing characters.
Another could focus more on clarity in my writing.
Another might be strictly plot-based and used for experimenting with twists and turns in the story.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
I’m all forsharing your work.
In fact, I think most of us could stand to share more than we do.
But there’s a difference between yourworkand yourexperimentsorlearning.
Building things just for you removes any of that concern.
This can be asurprisingly humbling experience.
It’s easy to make excuses about why you’re not improving your skills.
We all know we need to make a conscious effort to learn new things and hone our crafts.
I’ve given you a plan to do itnow it’s up to you to execute.
She is a writer atCrewand was previously Buffer’s first Content Crafter and Head of Content at Attendly.
Title image adapted fromMPFphotography(Shutterstock) andgeralt(Pixabay).
Additional photos byshinealight,hackNY.org,mpclemens(Flickr).
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