Re-learning Learning

It has been a long time now since I’ve been in formal education.

I learn a lot, but it’s more about following an interest rather than anything with a structure.

I teach myself the parts that I’m interested in, that will get me what I need in that moment, fitting in the time to when I’m interested and certainly not doing any exams.

I know a lot, but have relatively little in the way of certificates to demonstrate it.

Informally I’ve taught myself everything from the basics of nutrition, to robotics and coding.

I love to learn, but I’m not too keen on formal education.

It could be because of my anxiety (I hate exams!), it could be because of other traits which I’m fairly sure come down to ADD, or any other number of reasons.

But sometimes the formal education is needed – either for the ‘proof’ at the end of it, or just because it can be the best way to get the full information on a subject in a clear manner.

One of my goals for 2021 is to get a new qualification.

There was a few reasons to have this as a goal this year –

1. I’ve been looking at new jobs and realise that although the informal learning serves me well in my current role as they can clearly see what I know, it’s better to have something formal on a CV
2. I’d like to ‘step-up’ my knowledge in a number of areas and feel that formal courses is the best way to do this, so I want to get re-familiar with the process
3. Qualifications will combat my ‘imposter syndrome’

Lots of good reasons for this goal, and I’ve already made big steps in the process as I have started a course in project management through my work.

And it is taking some getting used to.

From finding specific times to sit down and do the course, to taking actual notes and having to force myself to remember the correct terminology (the worst habit I have – I don’t see why I need to know the exact name for a thing as long as I know how to do it)

This week I’ve had to sit myself down in 1-hour intervals to do Mock exams and soon I’ll need to do an actual exam, which is just as stressful as I remember.

As expected, it’s a learning-curve and taking some time to get used to, but I feel like I’m doing alright and there’s more motivation with knowing I have more than one reason for doing this.

I have a lot to look forward to at the end of this course as I plan to have an interest-based subject to learn after this one (although I’m not sure what subject yet).

Once I’m back into the habit of formal learning and have (hopefully) settled into a learning schedule through the week, I want to continue it straight into other subjects I’ve considered following before.

So hopefully this is just the start, and I’m very happy that I’m well on my way to achieving my 2021 goals.