When it comes to skill acquisition, hands-on experience redefines you and make you stronger than endlessly watching series of videos. This article will be brief. Let's consider some key points:
- Why do you want to learn a skill?
- What problem(s) are you trying to solve?
- How to escape from Tutorials Hell?
I will try to discuss on these few points above.
1. WHY DO YOU WANT TO LEARN A SKILL
Everyone has their reasons for learning a particular skill or profession. Until you know why you want to learn a skill, you would be revolving in circles. Every project has a start and a finishing point, from: Conception, Planning, Designing, Executing, Testing, Production, Recycling (optional), Disposing.
I listed the above activities so you understand that every time you spend learning something that doesn't worth your time and doesn't contribute any value to you, the time wasted is irreversible.
2. WHAT PROBLEM(S) ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE
This is a very personal question that requires objective reasoning. If you don't know what you want to solve, you will be stock in tutorials hell on places like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, etc: The reason being that you rather enjoy watching other people display how they have solved a particular problem and give them a Like 👍, than you trying to solve a problem.
When you know what you want to solve, you will know the places to go for solutions when you hit a dead end. For example, if you want to design a good landing page, you will Google to see other designs that have been done in the past and take from their ideas to build your own. You can only "steal" from other people's ideas to solve a problem and this way you learn faster.
3. HOW TO ESCAPE FROM TUTORIALS HELL
As stated from the beginning of this article, get your hands dirty by building more projects. It must not be a massive project but a small project for a start.
Oftentimes, when we want to start a project it looks as if that's the moment ideas seems to drain away from our minds. Yes, it's very normal.
When you face situation like this, try to figure out the problem by asking some personal questions:
- "Is it the design tool I don't understand how to use?" Then go and read documentations about how to use such tool.
- "Is it because I have not properly drafted out a project plan?" Go and draft a project plan.
Remember, nobody can solve your problems the way you solve it.
Thank you for reading this article. I will appreciate if you like and share it. 😁