Go Learn Yourself Something New

 Source:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130410205225-44129858-go-learn-yourself-something-new?trk=mp-reader-card?trk=li_tw_jakenickell_learn

Early on in my career, my ignorance gave me the confidence to start my company. I've learned a lot of things since then, but I still find value in things I don't yet know. I haven't been formally educated on a single skill I use in my career today.
I did okay in high school. I was in advanced classes, but I got Bs and Cs. When I think back about what I was excited to learn, I realize it was driven by curiosity. That's the first step… be driven and curious enough to want knowledge and learn how things work.
I was curious about making websites, writing graffiti, making movies with friends, driving off road, snowboarding, camping, etc. I turned these hobbies into skills on my own time outside the classroom. Those learning experiences taught me the most about myself and my abilities. And it's how I built my confidence.
"All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure to follow." - Mark Twain
It's not enough to just be ignorant or even curious. You need to be confident enough to jump into the unknown and know you can figure things out. Tonight I plan to go home, hang with my family, and then write some code into the wee hours of the night for something I have no clue how to do. But I'm confident I'll figure it out.
When you don't know something, but are curious or driven enough to learn it, I believe the best way is to figure it out on your own. Learning the way things work from an expert, which is based on how they've always traditionally worked, is fine. But that'll just make you a good factory worker who can be plugged in like a cog anywhere.
When you teach yourself, you gain more than the power to pat yourself on the back. You have an advantage over those who learned the same thing through formal training. When you learn on your own, you overcome hurdles without anyone’s help. Sometimes the solutions you find are only slightly different than a method you might have learned in a classroom. But those little differences add up. Sometimes you'll do things in a hugely unique way. An innovative new way.
When I built a tree fort when I was 12, I wasn't a carpenter. I just started haphazardly nailing boards into the tree with my friend. We figured it out. Two summers in, we had a 3-story tree fort with a spiral staircase around the trunk.
At 15, I illegally downloaded Photoshop, cracked the serial number, and pressed every single button until I knew what they all did.
When I wanted to make a website, I discovered the view > source option in my Web browser that let me see the site’s code. Then I reverse engineered it.
In starting my business, I thought it'd be fun to make t-shirts together with a group of talented designers I was involved with on an online forum. Through a series of weird, slightly different decisions, I stumbled on a new, innovative business model. It later became known as crowdsourcing.
What about you? What do you want to do? Stop thinking about who could teach you, and go "learn" yourself something!
Photo: The birth of the scoring machine