A brief description of my continuous learning journey

A Journey of Continuous Learning

Since the primitive ages, the way we as humans have been dealing with the process of continuous learning has always been evolving in a non-stop fashion. We can refer to this evolution as a result of having to thrive in a multiverse of fast-paced environments that are now the de facto reality that we all live in. To clarify my journey of continuous learning; I will try to answer the following questions in the most honest possible way: How have you practiced continuous learning? What qualities or habits have helped you the most to continue learning? What challenges do I face when it comes to continuous learning? How have I addressed these challenges?

To begin with, I have to mention the time that I got out of University and started my first job as a Software Engineer. That moment was the first time in my entire life where I realized that I was free of any academic demands such as having to do homework, essays, reading a bunch of technical books, and so forth. In other words, I was on my own. As a result of that, I realized that the journey of continuous learning has to do with some fundamental principles that I have been applying ever since which are: commitment, focus, and grit. With this in mind, a good illustration of using these principles is when I have to tackle coding problems. Which within itself is an exercise that firstly involves commitment, which is our own choice of not giving up when trying to come up with a solution to a problem at hand. Equally important is focus, a habit that has to do with the fact of paying particular attention to a specific task that usually is sorted by a priority status, and last but not least is grit. A quality that emphasizes the idea of working hard to follow through on a commitment.

Although the principles that we discussed before are not only helpful but are also powerful techniques in continuous learning, they do not remove the fact that challenges do arrive during this process. As a matter of fact, for me personally, the biggest challenges that I usually face are what I like to call “DDD” (not to be confused with Domain-Driven Design): Distraction; Demotivation, and Difficulties.

To tackle the first “D” that stands for Distraction, I have been sticking with some habits when I am learning something, among those the most efficient for myself, are listed below: Keeping my desk decluttered as much as possible hence my eyes stop wandering around; To do lists using pen and paper so I can prioritize tasks, issues or goals to organize my thoughts; And ultimately noise-canceling headphones so I don’t get distracted by any sound that can take my attention away. Henceforth to overcome demotivation, I have been using a few techniques such as setting specific goals for short, mid, and long terms. Secondly, I keep myself as flexible as possible, thus when facing adversity I try to make different choices with the intent of always nourishing a positive attitude. I always like the idea of expecting the unexpected, it has always helped me build resilience. Finally to address difficulties, for a long time I had always exclusively relied upon myself, so I always tried to solve problems on my own, and most of the time it proved to be not the most effective way to get things done, even though I still rely on my research, study and solutions nowadays I do like to ask for help when I feel that I am getting stuck into something that can be solved quicker, because most of the time we are always solving the same issues, and there is nothing bad about sometimes asking for somebody help.

In conclusion, by prioritizing a certain mentality, we are able to flourish in continuous learning in our lives. It is essential to learn deeply about ourselves, as techniques, methods, habits, and principles are just resources to help us in this journey, to effectively achieve our highest potential. It is crucial to learn to pick yourself back up from mistakes and fine-tune what does and does not work for you. Fundamentally, continuous learning is crucial to reach our goals, and by applying as well as prioritizing skills that help us overcome distraction, demotivation, and difficulties.