How to Learn Hard Things by Yourself; How I am Learning Data Science

Did you remember the time you were confronted with a difficult subject in school?

It was probably as though you’d never know it, you could have opted out but just because the school forced it on you and survival required it, you had to learn to move to the next class or graduate.

Outside of school, it’s possible no one forces anything on you but if you are serious about making meaningful progress in your life, at different points, you’d be confronted with learning difficult things; be they new skills, habits, technologies, cultures, methods, procedures or adapting to a new environment.

Learning new things can be likened to climbing a steep slope or a hilly mountain. It can be very arduous, tedious and herculean. Like every other human endeavour, when you are trying to familiarize yourself with something new or unfamiliar terrain, the feeling is always strange and can seem a bit hostile at first, but like learning the difficult subjects in school, you’d have to stick to it.

By nature, humans are seekers of comfort and comfort is an enemy of change. You’d probably not take learning new things serious if it doesn’t affect your survival in any way. If it doesn’t affect your job or threaten your livelihood, you may become complacent. However, if you are not satisfied with just-getting-by, you’ll realize you need to become more efficient and productive and you’d have to take learning serious because comfort isn’t your thing.

I’m having to type this piece on the Evernote app on my computer, this is coming after about a year of downloading the app because I’ve been so comfortable typing on phone with the colournote app. Evernote comes with many exciting features but it looks like too much of a hassle.

Hard things are hard, let no one deceive you about it but the benefits of doing hard things usually exceed the pains of doing them. The top 20% of any organization are those who are doing the most difficult things because their activities usually require learning new things, upgrading and constantly reinventing. By implication, if you can learn to do what they are doing, you can also be where they are.

Your ability to learn, unlearn and relearn is what distinguishes you from the crowd.

The first thing you should understand is that learning something new requires adapting to change. Change can be difficult but it isn’t impossible. Hence, learning and knowing it is possible.

It takes a great deal of flexibility and adaptability to conform to a new norm. If you’re used to a system of doing things and your survival doesn’t require you to learn something new, there’s every tendency for you to become lethargic and take the path of least resistance.

It becomes more difficult if you’re quite rigid and dogmatic about certain practices and traditions. The mere thought of changing or upgrading is like taboo to you because “that’s the way you’ve always done it”.

Personally, changing doesn’t come easy for me and so does learning new things especially if it is a skill. I remember trying to learn guitar a few years back, I attempted it twice and when it didn’t seem I was getting it fast, I abandoned it. I have since moved on to learn other things.

Presently, I’m having to learn a new skill in data science. Data science is reputed as one of the sexiest jobs of the 21st century with the use of popular programming languages such as R and Python to analyze and make meaning of big data in many fields of human endeavours. I’ve always been a data analyst but the difference between the skill is that this new one requires some programming skills as opposed to the pre-programmed software I’m used to.

I’m quite new to programming and that means I’m learning something new.

My experience in learning this skill has therefore informed this piece.

Here are a few things that can help you:

1) Be adventurous; be curious. Don’t be afraid to try new things; don’t be scared of launching into new territories. Find an excitement that is greater than the rigour of learning. See the bigger picture of what learning this new thing portends for you. In so doing, you will make learning fun for yourself

2) Cultivate the right mindset; In order to learn new things, you must realize that having the right mindset towards learning will help you. The first thought that usually comes to mind is “will I ever know this?”. You have to deal with the fear and anxiety that comes with haste. Learning may require time but the truth is that you can learn it once you believe you can.

3) Be your own teacher; If you are the slow type of learner, this can be quite difficult but it yields the greatest dividends. Learn from various sources on the internet. However, being your own teacher also requires that you get help from others.

4) Teach someone else: one of the easiest ways to become a master of a new subject is by teaching others. Repetition helps you to learn by rote. This ensures that you’d eventually know the subject by heart.

5) Join a community: Sometimes, you might need a coach or expert’s advice. Likewise, you might also be in a position to guide someone else. In order to get this advisory service the easy way, join a group of people who are learning the same or similar things as you. Even if you have a coach or mentor, such community helps you not to be limited to the opinions of just a few people, you will get to know different ways of arriving at your desired result. It also helps you to be in the consciousness of whatever you’re learning by ensuring that you keep the conversation going. You can find these type of communities offline or online in groups and pages. You can also create for yourself if you can’t find any around you.

6) Manage your energy well: You shouldn’t learn every new thing you come across. Learn to identify what’s most important to you to avoid misused energy. It is better to learn a few things and become an expert than learning so much without depth.

7) Take some break: Don’t drive yourself too hard or pressurize yourself into learning. When it gets very tough,; leave it and come back later. You can break the monotony by doing something different, have some fun, rest, go out. When you come back refreshed, you’d come back with new energy for new insights.

I hope this inspires you to learn something valuable.

Picture Source: https://nareshit.com/data-science-online-training/

Originally published at ajayijulius.wordpress.com on February 18, 2019.