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How to Master a New Skill
Make sure it’s needed
Make sure the skills you've chosen are relevant to your career, your organization, or both.
Gaining a new skill is an investment and you need to know upfront what the return will be.
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Check your readiness
Learning a new skill takes commitment. And there are certain limits to what you can learn. So, before starting working on a new skill, ask yourself:
- If your goal really is attainable
- How much time and energy you can give to this process.
Know how you learn best
You can find out your ideal learning style by looking back: review your past learning experiences and make a list of the good ones and another list of bad ones, in order to see the elements they had in common.
By doing this, you'll be able to define the learning environment that works for you.
Get the right support
Find and approach someone you trust who has mastered the skill you’re trying to attain. This will greatly increase your learning.
If you can’t find a mentor inside your company, look for people in your industry or from your network
Start small and reflect
Choose one or two skills to focus on at a time, and break them down into manageable goals. This will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.
Also, take the time to reflect on what you're learning. Thinking and talking about your progress will help you get valuable feedback and will keep you accountable.
Teach it to others
One of the quickest ways to learn something new, and to practice it, is to teach others how to do it.
So share what you learn with your team, your manager, or your co-workers.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Habits or Skills
Decide whether what you're trying to improve is mostly a habit or mostly a skill: if your main problem is with doing something you already know how to do, but doing it consistently, that’s pro...
Improving a habit
This process has 3 main parts:
- Define the habit you want to form clearly and consistently;
- Condition it until it is relatively easy to maintain.
- Maintain the habit by monitoring it. If you slip, push to reassert the habit quickly.
Improving skills
The best strategy for getting better at skills is deliberate practice. A good way to work on this is to divide it into 3:
- Practice the skill.
- Get timely feedback on how well you’re performing.
- Focus on your weak points with selective drills and constrained practice.
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Key Ideas
Changing careers
Time to give serious thought to this life-shaping question: What exactly are you going to do with the rest of your li...
Start with honest self-assessment
- Analyze your current skill set, training level, and accomplishments to date.
- Write down the aspects of the work you liked and what tasks or things you disliked.
- Explore different career options. Investigate new fields, industries and potential careers.
- Interview individuals who work at those types of jobs, or in fields of interest to you.
- Look at growth opportunities, salaries, benefits, education level and then determine the job title to target.
Change from careers
- Use your transferable skills. You have acquired abilities from previous positions.
- Use your strengths. Incorporate your talents into any position you choose to go after.
- Get new skills. Study the industry you want to enter. Take some courses so you can more quickly enter the field.
- Many people prevent their own success. They find excuses, or blame others, for their own failures or mistakes instead of learning and improving from them.
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Don’t Improve All Things at Once
Create a list of what you want to change and place the easiest issues firstly.
When you finish improving one aspect, only then you can start the next step. The first steps are im...
Procrastinating Is Not Always Bad
It doesn’t mean that you should procrastinate all the time as you want.
If you’re working on a project, for example, schedule an alarm every 2 hours and relax for about 15 minutes. But don’t spend all your free time on unproductive activities: do exercise for your body and for eyes, go for a walk or have a meal if it’s needed.
Don’t Tell Anybody About Your Plans
When you tell someone about your goal, you already feel partially satisfied because you start thinking that you’ve done some steps on the way towards your goal.
Plus, some of the people you tell might demotivate you.
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