A perspective prevailing in our societies is that to get educated one must go to the school/college/university, he/she can only get educated by this medium. I always have debated over this supporting that one should Self-educate his/herself. Now the question arises on how to self-educate yourself.
Before diving into how to self-educate yourself, let me clear the idea of self-education, what it means?
Self-Education
A process of educating one’s own self by using different modes of learning.
To me, Self Education is about curiosity, the curiosity of knowing things that are not commonly discussed in your circle, or formal education systems.
It is all about a combination of your prior knowledge with new information, will leave you with a new idea.
Self-Education a path to creativity
As discussed earlier that it is about the curiosity of learning new things, and curiosity leads you to creativity.
I know many of you must be wondering, why I am saying again and again that self-education is about curiosity?
I am saying this because people around me who are doing remarkable work in their fields, all are self-educators, with one thing in common that is “CRIUOSITY”.
All of you must have seen a baby growing In front of you, whenever you give them toys or ask anything in front of them. They start analyzing your words, things around them and ask about things that click their minds. Something they have never seen or heard before. This leads them to learn new things on their own.
Self-Education helps you to unleash your creativity. Being a student myself, whenever I read /face something new. I start discovering that thing and most of the time while looking for that topic or word, I came to know about many different aspects, and it increased my knowledge.
But one thing that self-education is not about one day, it’s a continuous process of discovering, asking yourself, indulging yourself into tests, so that you can learn more and more.
Why Self Education is Important?
You may think why self-education is important when we are already acquiring formal education?
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
Jim Rohn
To be honest, it is the need of an hour.Schools/Colleges/Universities or any other medium for formal education can only teach you the things that are written in the course books and most of the time these books are not updated for years. So, if we think then we should cam to know that we cannot get familiar with new technologies/news and events happening around the world.
In this world of continuous evolution, one must learn new things and get him/her self-updated. so that one can compete with others. It is also necessary for the growth of the mind. Writing down some of the techniques one can use to self-educate.
How to Self-Educate yourself, Habits:
Below are the tips/habits one can use to self-educate.
1. Always look for the stuff you don’t know:
Make it a habit! Encountered with a word you don’t know, look for it analyze what others say about that. Make the relation of newly learned things with your prior knowledge. Try to bring something new and creative out of it. It increase your minds capacity of analyzing and sustaining the information.
2. Read and Increase:
Reading increases your knowledge, provokes your thoughts, and let you look into the world from a different perspective. Reading does not mean, that go and grab heavy philosophical, literature books. It is about reading small portions which calculate your mental health and help you to learn new things daily. It can be a small article, even a single word that you learn daily is about reading. Just make it your habit, A habit that will pay you wisely.
3. Curiosity and Challenge:
Let your mind wander about things you don’t know, challenge yourself for things you want to learn. Analyze what others do to increase their knowledge and for self-education. One can learn so many tips/habits from others. Challenging yourself for things you don’t know will lead you to a creative idea for solving that thing by combining your knowledge and additional information you have learned.
4. Maintain what you learn:
Make a journal for your self, note down what you have learned .Give a medium to your thoughts so that you can increase your capacity of retaining that information as well. Look back after some time what you have written, to refresh your mind just like a cool wind breeze activating your mind.
Mediums for self-education
In this era of social apps and the availability of a lot of learning apps as well, one can self-educate him/herself according to their ease. Mentioning some of the mediums here I prefer myself.
1. YouTube:
Youtube is one of the best sources to self-learn, a lot of online lectures, video tutorials information about a variety of topics from every aspect of life is there. I personally go for a video rather than a long freaking article to know about the topic.
These small video clips help you to learn easily and effectively without indulging a lot of effort into it. The only key to success is that you might know how to search accurately.
2. Enroll Yourself For Online courses:
Register your self for the courses related to your level of interest as well as domains. These certifications will help you a lot to stand high in the market and will benefit you in your future as well. These courses bring a boom to your resumes and help you to know about the latest ins and outs of the market.
Some of the topmost websites for online courses are:
- Coursera is a leading partner for so many universities/organizations around the world.aiming to provide a variety of courses with different levels of finances and learning experiences so that anyone can take accordingly. Mark your interest and you can easily find a course related to your concern field. Go and avail the chance!
- Udemy is the biggest platform for online courses. It includes a variety of courses with millions of learners getting benefits from this platform.
You can have a look for courses here.
https://elearnpedia.com/free-online-it-courses-with-certification/
https://elearnpedia.com/free-online-courses-available-on-coursera-and-there-are-hundreds-of-them/
https://elearnpedia.com/free-oracle-certificatio/
3. Don’t like Reading? Use Audio Books:
Audiobooks are great initiatives for those who don’t like reading much but still want to learn new things. Audiobooks are best for developing interest in reading and with the help of that one can easily grab the information from books without stressing their selves. Happiness and knowledge at once!!
Audibles is so far considered as the best. You can go and search for your favorite book and enjoy a new side of book reading.
4. Healthy talks/Debates:
It is always helpful when you talk to the experts about anything. Just like you feel like you are ill you will go for a doctor for expert advice. Active participation in seminars, talks will help you to learn and have an expert opinion about that topic. Experts like to share their knowledge and experience. Stay connected to them either by visiting them or over the internet.
Some of the best available talks:
- TED talks basically a platform, where topmost experts from all over the world, express their thoughts and ideas in the shortest possible time. Most of these talks are full of motivation and an individual’s personal experience for one’s guidance in less than eighteen mins.
- Talks at Google it posts out the insights of the guests who are invited to the google. just like an FM radio sharing the voices. this also shares the views of topmost personalities from different fields like music, art, sports, etc.
CONCLUSION:
Information everywhere, so many resources out there one can utilize to self-educate. Craziness about learning new things will encounter you with new resources, information.
But it is of no benefit when you don’t put these resources to use, just like a fertile land out there on which you are not growing anything. Want to know more about how to self educate yourself? Watch this
