3 Paradox Lessons Doing Online Courses Taught Me
I believe, online courses are one of the resources becoming more and more valuable in comparison to the traditional ways of education.
You can learn what’s in your own interest. Your own interest increases the quality of your learning and most likely is really fun.
You can learn the skills, you need for your dream job. Sounds like extra motivation, which additionally increases your learning quality.
You can learn at your own pace and whenever you have your learning prime time or whenever you are in a peak state.
Unfortunately, you don’t realize all these things until you really made the experience and the vast majority never comes into the joy of learning on their own. Instead, they associate learning with hatred because of their time in school.
For me, online courses were the beginning of my journey of lifelong learning and the start of a new life. That might sound a little bit too much, but before I committed to learning I didn’t have any goals or any purpose for being here. But this was the start of an obsession to learn more and more and to strengthen my skills.
My first course was a speed reading seminar including a 30-day training afterward. The intention was clear. I wanted to read faster and learn faster to generate more time for myself. I could never imagine that the extent of this skill was applicable over several areas in life.
The more you get done the more time you have.
As I realized this, it felt a bit like a superpower or just highly motivational.
I found time slots, which I never took note of before. I was able to complete online courses additionally to university and still had time left.
Before I was jumped into the world of online courses and lifelong learning, I felt overwhelmed by the university stuff.
My grades got better with less time spending on studying physics. Instead, I used to make everything in university and in the evening and before university started I was able to learn something of my interest. Furthermore I easily could waste my time watching TV, what I wouldn’t recommend today, but it was wtill possible.
In his book “Willpower Doesn’t Work”, which I am reading at this time, Benjamin P. Hardy mentions that the average American spends four years watching commercials. Four f***ing years!! There are people building million or even billion dollars businesses at the same time.
Time is the only thing that does not exist in abundance, but all our days have 24 hours and beginning attending online courses made me realize that I didn’t use the majority of my time but wasted it.
The less you focus on the more you get done.
In this age of time, it seems a bit like we need to get more and more information into our heads. We tend to read 100s of different facts and phrases over the day, but we never really make progress.
The online courses sharpened my focus extremely. Before the day started I had a clear focus, what I am about to do the following day — being at university and bashing all my tasks and coming home and working 1–2 hours on the courses. I was totally satisfied after all these days and still had plenty of time because that usually took about 10 hours cumulated and cultivating 8 hours of sleep I still had six hours left. The time before I just lived my days like they only had 18 hours. I just threw away my time and didn’t realize that.
With two issues on your priority list, you get three done. With ten issues on the list, you get none done.
Online courses made me a better table tennis player.
Where is the connection between online courses and playing table tennis?
Honestly, this one isn’t really paradoxically, but absolutely unclear and maybe even not convincing for a significant amount of people.
Table tennis is a sport with a huge psychological component. Every inch of increasing my self-confidence helps to get more focused on the table, which is highly necessary due to the speed of the sport. That feeling that you learn like an extraordinary person, although you are a quite normal one, is amazing. It’s not about comparing to other people. It’s about doing something especially for yourself. Investing in oneself is something one should never hesitate of doing — the earlier the better.
Conclusion
I believe, online courses are the future or at least a very big part of the education.
In the future having and improving your own personal brand will give you the extra piece that your skillset needs for getting your dream job.
While forming your own brand in the online world, online courses will be one of the biggest sources of knowledge and also an affordable one for little men like me.
Do you already know your next course?
