ITYSKA #6: The Importance of Learning New Skills
If you want to catch up in this fast-paced everchanging world, you need to learn new skills
Throughout May and heading into June, I have been incredibly busy. On top of making the shift to Substack and maintaining a level of consistency in writing here, I’ve also had to work different jobs ranging from county work to being an event specialist. Despite the number of jobs I have, I also have a surprising amount of free time. As a continuation of my last post, I have spent a lot of time reading, writing, listening to music, and especially thinking. It’s important to have a portion of your time to reflect on what you want out of life, what goals you want to set and work backward to reach that goal. After much consideration and spending two years of my life in the workforce, trying (and failing) to find what type of work fits me, I decided that it was time for me to start learning new skills.
I recently decided that I wanted to learn how to code. I went on Udemy, bookmarked a page on a course that teaches HTML and CSS, waited for the perfect sale, and purchased it at an incredibly low price. I have never learned how to code before in my life and I regret not knowing how to do it sooner. This is an entirely different world. I know how to write, speak, research, and present, but I don’t how to code, which is arguably the most essential skill everyone should learn in the 21st century. I have many motivations as to why I’ve made this decision, ranging from increasing my job opportunities, making upgrades to my current career trajectory, and just plain curiosity.
When it comes to living in a hyperfast, ever-changing world, it can feel as if you’re a little rusty and behind in the times, especially as you grow older. If you want to keep up and not fall behind, you have to be willing to learn new things and stay curious. I have an old blog post reflecting on the idea that you never truly stop learning. I also have plans on re-uploading one of my old blog posts where I discuss how you can stay and remain curious. Stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, expect a lot more of my posts where I talk about the current progress throughout my coding journey. I’m entering the next phase of my life where I learn new, valuable skills to help me move up in the world. There’ll be a few adjustments, but nothing drastic. I’ll still work in my current job, as well as other side jobs if I have to. But I can guarantee you this: this Substack is here to stay. I hope you take my advice seriously and enjoy the ride that we call life.
📝Most Interesting Articles I’ve Come Across: There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to emotional skills, but one skill that can be particularly challenging is how to be vulnerable. Not just because a lot of us tend to closely guard ourselves, walking sideways and shielding ourselves the same way a hermit crab does, but also because of how others might react when we choose to spill our deepest and darkest secrets. We all have a tendency to hide our screw-ups, our failures, and our shame, despite being an inevitable part of life. If there’s anyone who has delved deep into those topics better than anyone else, it’s none other than researcher and public speaker Brene Brown. She has an excerpt from one of her books Rising Strong titled Courage Over Comfort: Rumbling With Shame, Accountability and Failure at Work which gives an example of how you can show more vulnerability in the workplace. A difficult thing to do, but necessary to discuss.
On the less emotional side, let’s talk puzzles. There are different types of puzzles out there: math puzzles, word puzzles, logic puzzles, riddles, and so many more. There are even entire computer games and escape rooms where the whole objective of the game is to solve a bunch of puzzles. But why solve them in the first place? This post from author and journalist A.J. called The Path to Better Thinking Through Puzzles and Riddles helps explain their importance and even gives a few puzzles and riddles for you to try. Not gonna lie, a lot of them stumped me. See if you can do better than me!
Speaking of better thinking, the last thing I’ll recommend isn’t really an article per se, but more of a collection of tools and diagrams that help with better thinking. The website Untools has an assortment of interactive tools and frameworks that can help you better understand how to think about systems, decision making, problem-solving, and communication. Have some time to play around with them and you’ll find it helpful in everyday life. Click here to get started.
📹Videos Worth Watching: The field of mathematics is a long, broad subject that takes up multiple different fields and subjects ranging from geometry to numerology. As proof of how broad mathematics can be, I found this video The Map of Mathematics incredibly enlightening and fun to watch and it helps show how big and important mathematics is. Never thought I would ever say that about math.
A topic that has long fascinated me is how our brains perceive the world. More specifically, the idea of optical illusions and how we can be fooled into seeing something that is not there (i.e. believing that one object is bigger than the other despite the objects actually being the same size). These optical illusions are fun brain teasers and show us that seeing is not always believing, but how can they explain reality and how we see the world? This fantastic video aptly titled How Illusions Can Explain Reality can show us the way.
The last video is a scary but fun one. I’ve always enjoyed haunted houses, especially ones with interesting, spooky backstories. There’s an entire channel focused on haunted houses and places around the world called Amy’s Crypt where a woman named Amy and her crew explore the creepiest places on Earth and learn about the dark history of those places. I got into this channel thanks to a video where she explores a haunted town and cemetery in none other than Transylvania. If you enjoy content such as this, check out her Youtube channel and website.
That’s it for this edition of Interesting Things You Should Know About. A short one but that’s mainly because of my shifting schedule and ongoing life changes. There will be loads more content coming in the future, however, so make sure you subscribe to my Substack. If you find this content useful and interesting, share this with others through whatever social media you have. Please follow me on Twitter if you want updates on what content I’ll be teasing in the future. Thank you to everyone who read this until the end and, as always, stay interesting!
I got some really good information on your page today. That was a great sub stack editorial. Great job Richie.