Good question, Richard Scarry.
I have friends who are doing a lot of different things with their lives. Among my closest friends are engineers, programmers, schoolteachers, bellydancers, artists, linguists, mothers, published authors, a geophysicist, a missionary, a medical physicist, an Olympic hopeful, and more.
Widen the circle out more (to acquaintances and friends of friends) and it includes doctors, business owners, scientists who study oncology, Lyme disease or AIDS, lawyers who help people become citizens, Olympic rowers, a Nobel Prize winner, actors, musicians, bankers, artistic directors, video game designers/academics, entrepreneurs, CEOs of international companies, masseuses, martial arts masters, cancer survivors, inventors, contractors, truck drivers, animators, nurses, a puppeteer, and more.
And the list goes on.
What all of these people have in common is that they are all successful, but in completely different ways. One person can be inspiring, but sometimes it’s easy to lose that inspiration because that one person made decisions we wouldn’t feel comfortable making or have capitalized on talents or resources we might not neccessarily have. But looking at a whole lineup of inspiration, I see that each and every one of these people have taken a very different path in life, each capitalizing on different talents and resources, each making different steps. And some of them line up more with my interests, and some have been given similar resources.
How do you get there from here?
All of these types of success require education, but education as in “learning”, not neccessarily education as in “school”. For example, I don’t know how to drive an 18-wheeler, but the fact that someone else does keeps our entire economy on its feet. And the one I know didn’t used to know how to drive one, either; he went and learned and got a licence so he could get a new job in a new state to support his new wife. And learning a new language isn’t easy, but there are lots of materials on the Internet for beginners before you even pay for a class.
Tuition isn’t free. But initiative is.
And sometimes, initiative is what it takes the most of to go off on a new vein, change the way we approach success, make a change in career or take a specialized knowledge to the next level. A recent blog post by acclaimed web analyst Avinash Kaushik talks about how sometimes the most important changes in our career paths are not what happens on the job but what happens on our own time and the initiative we take with our own learning. ( Web Analytics Career Advice: Play In The Real World!) Even though he’s talking specifically about web analytics (examining user behavior on your website to make more money for the company), his advice is really applicable to everyone, regardless of interest or specialty or desired area of growth– Don’t be limited by what other people have taught you. The limitless kind of education is what you teach yourself.
A similar message is the core of The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get A Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn. Written to advocate “unschooling”, it is full of ideas that can be practiced by people of any age to expand their knowledge in any direction. Whether you agree with her principles on schooling youngsters or not, the message is the same — Education and learning are everywhere, and it’s available for those who have the initiative to find it, not limited to those who can afford tuition.
Maybe you don’t want a new career. Maybe you just want a new hobby, but don’t have the money for pottery class or a whole set of supplies. Maybe you want to learn more about your existing job but your company won’t pay to send you to that conference or enroll you in training. Maybe you’re just bored…
Just don’t use lack of money as an excuse.
Here are some ideas to get started:
Do you think this guy went to juggling school?
If you want to know more about music…
- Browse the Internet for free sheet music. Or tabs for your instrument of choice. Watch YouTube videos of people playing instruments. Slow it down if you want. Play it frame by frame to learn the fingering. Join forums so you can learn from other enthusiasts. Or find other enthusiasts in your area. Sure, take a class or lessons if you want. But if it’s not an option, find things that are. Don’t have an instrument to play? Well, do you have one available that is less interesting to you but will teach you the basics of music anyway? What about your voice? There are a lot of resources online about learning to use your voice before you decide to sign up for lessons. And with anything you choose to learn about, the ability for you to contribute back what you’ve learned (and accept feedback) is huge. Join a local band. Start your own YouTube channel. Keep a blog of your progress as you learn more and invite your friends to give feedback. Once you’ve mastered a small step (like learning a scale in a different key), make an easy tutorial and make it available online, or volunteer at a local elementary school or library to teach what you’ve learned to youngsters.
If you want to know more about computers…
- This is probably the biggest area of knowledge available online. Computer-related knowledge is available everywhere– people discussing new languages, people writing introductions to existing ones, documentation for APIs, entry-level tutorials on how to use Photoshop or other programs, extensive Help files for all the Microsoft products that might have come on your computer; it’s a little overwhelming. Start by giving yourself easy projects; if you don’t know enough yet to know what questions to ask, look at the questions that other people are asking online about your subject. Sometimes libraries and community centers have free classes in basic computer literacy skills. Or if you want something more complex, of course you could sign up for a class,but most of the programmers I know have learned all their best skills on their own time, and some have never been to college at all but have an immense ammount of computer knowledge. Since this area of knowledge is so vast, you’ll have to just dig in yourself and see what’s available in your interest range. I guarantee you it is out there.
If you want to hone your business skills in your own industry…
- Try Toastmasters if you want to learn to be a better speaker, which will serve well in almost any profession. Or if you’re not interested in paying their dues, look at their free resources. Research your own profession online and see what skills will take you farther than you are now. Figure out what software you need to learn, what new models are coming out, what the trends in your industry are. Read opinion blogs on your line of work. Figure out who the movers and shakers are in your industry. If you want, try to contact them. Many industry leaders keep blogs on which you can comment or send emails. Even if you don’t get a response, going through the process of articulating your question and presenting it professionally is good practice. And sometimes you will get a response– I knew someone in high school who had written letters to his favorite sports heros and public figures all his life, and by the time he was 17 had collected enough responses to write a book, which then was published. Check books out of the library. Check your professional demeanor in the mirror. Have talks with your boss, your co-workers, mentors, other people who have achieved success.
These are just some ideas for starters. You probably have your own ideas– feel free to share. Write your own lists of inspirational success stories of the people you know and how they got there. Or jot down the things YOU want to learn. So you want to take a class? Why? If tuition isn’t an option, why should that stop you from increasing your knowledge anyway?
Just don’t let your finances keep you from taking the initiative to educate yourself.
Images courtesy of Fada Moranga, Chics Thoughts and Blogs.
