Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

Learn Something New

Have you ever wondered why some people are just good at everything they try to be good at? Well I have, and that’s the main reason for this blog. I want to find out how some people are just good at whatever they try to be good at. In trying to find the answer I hope to find a way I can accomplish a lot of the goals I want to accomplish.

One main thing I have noticed of “those people” is that they aren’t afraid to try something new. Often many of us talk about wanting to try “this” or wanting to try “that,” only to find ourselves a year later saying the same thing and having got no closer to our goals. This very reason is why I want to challenge you all to Learn Something New.

To give you an example I will use myself. I have always wanted to learn how to swim laps in a pool. I have had friends, girlfriends, and teammates who all new how to swim laps and would always tell me they would be glad to show me. For some reason I always had something better to do, somewhere more pressing to be. I never just went for it and tried to learn.

My main thought for the reasoning behind the excuses was I didn’t want to go in and fail and not be able to swim 10 feet without gasping for air. Well, I’m a little bit older and a little less worried about what others think. That coupled with the triathlon relay last weekend that I ran in made me want to give it a try. The co-worker who signed us up for the relay also happened to be the one doing the swimming leg in our relay and just so happens to be a pretty good swimmer. So I finally agreed to join him on his Friday swims. (Him teaching me is a great example of someone following a post I wrote ealier about teaching to learn and become better.)

Friday rolled around, my fiance and I bought new swim goggles and we headed to the pool. Upon arrival we found out the pool was closed due to some lightening that was happening earlier in the day. (We live in Hawaii and all the pools are outdoors around here.) The group decided they were going to go to another pool a few valleys over at a pool I didn’t know how to get to. This would have allowed me the perfect excuse to bail and not try swimming but I was set on learning and new if I didn’t go now it would be another year before I even entered a pool to learn.

We got there, I jumped in, and that is that. I got a few tips and was off to the other end. I didn’t make it but 20 meters before having to come up for air but that didn’t matter. I was there and learning how to swim laps. After a few more tries I made it all the way to the end, 50 meters, without stopping. When I got there though I was out of breath and had to take a rest before continuing on.

I can now say that I am very interested in getting better at swimming because it is a challenge and because I can see the aerobic benefits of the rhythmic breathing in swimming. This was all told to me by several people over the past 5-10 years but I had to jump in to believe it for myself. I am thinking of doing a triathlon in the near future so long as I stick with swimming weekly. Just another thing to add to the list of fun outdoor activities for us to do.

Now Get to It

The first thing you have to do is find something to learn! Find that one thing you’ve always said you have wanted to learn but don’t have the time for. It can be anything, as long as it’s something you have always wanted to learn but never “had the time.” Everyone has at least one of those hidden away.

Once you have chosen the task all you have to do now is go for it. If it’s something you can teach yourself by buying a book or a video or a membership, don’t hesitate, buy it. The more you wait the less likely you are to get going and you’ll fall back into the slump of gonna do it. An example of this is when I was getting into this website building thing I just jumped into it and bought three books: an HTML one, a PHP and MySQL, and also a CSS/HTML book. I just hoped in and went for it. You’ll also be able to Google a lot of what you need but buying the books makes you see them and realize the money you spent on them and not want to just pass them by for the TV remote.

Finally you just have to do it. You’ll have to sacrifice the time and realign your schedule to fit in your new learning sessions. I find that if I sit down and look at what it is I do during the day I always find places where I can become more efficient, or eliminate wasted time. You might have to watch less TV, or spend less time surfing the internet. Look for those little down times that you can turn into up times. All you need is 15-30 minutes a day and you could be on your way to learning something you’ve always wanted to.

It may seem like I am simplifying it, a lot. But it is that simple. All you have to do is find the thing that you’ve always wanted to learn, find some time, or make some time, and do it. Just do it. I went for it and really liked swimming and now I may keep after it until I am able to swim several laps without stopping and then maybe get onto a triathlon before the summer arrives.

Pick something to learn, and go for it.