Is it weird that I want to learn everything?

I think It‘s great that you‘re interested in acquiring new skills and exploring different ways to make life more exciting. If we look at our human history, some of our greatest ideas came from those who were proficient in many skills. Leonardo da Vinci , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ben Franklin to name a few contributed massively to society because of their ability to translate their many talents into diverse areas, often breaking the status quo and creating something never thought of before. So by all means, It‘s okay to want to learn everything! Here is my best advice on how you can gain more clarity on how to achieve everything you want to and methodically become a polymath.

Write down exactly WHAT it is you want to learn and WHY

This step is crucial. You need to be very clear to yourself on why you want to acquire a certain skill. Make sure that your reasons are tangible and relevant. For example, you would like to master different programming languages. Do you have a reason beyond just ‘because I want to be a good programmer?’. Your reason could be that you want to increase your salary by working at a high-tech company, or that you want to freelance and work from any location in the world. This type of goal-setting already raises the possibility of you committing to your learning journey.

2. Identify the PRIMARY ACTION that will boost your learning process

Part of the reason why you struggle to focus on individual goals is that you have an innate desire to do the skill as soon as possible. The longer the learning process drags on for, the more likely you are to become bored and give up before reaching your full potential. If you want to learn things in a short time frame, you need to know exactly what you need to do. For example, for many years, I wanted to become a good guitarist. I would use my spontaneous bouts of energy and motivation to get me started and would try to teach myself scales and solos on YouTube. This random approach to learning this skill made it difficult to find a clear direction, and lead to me quickly giving up. This has been my cycle for years because I failed to identify the primary action that needs to be taken in order to achieve this goal. I wanted to become a good jazz guitarist. My goal wasn’t to teach myself jazz guitar. With that in mind, my main action should have been to get a jazz guitar teacher. This leads me to my next point.

3. Be willing to put in some resources to achieve your goals

I know that many of us are reluctant to spend money ‘unnecessarily‘, and a lot of lessons and resources can be found for free on the internet. I think it is still worthwhile to consider paying for extra assistance while you learn a skill. Not only will you learn much quicker, but you will have someone provide a clear structure to you on how you can proceed to learning a certain skill, and you will save yourself a lot of frustration in the long run. If I had gotten myself a guitar teacher 5 years ago when I started, I would probably be a pretty solid jazz guitarist. Having someone who will also hold you accountable will furthermore keep you driven. It’s important to realize that the cost isn’t money, the cost is you not fulfilling your dreams.

4. Develop the a-little-a-day mentality

We‘ve all heard about Atomic Habits, and I will happily remind you that doing even just 5 minutes of coding, or reading, or learning a language, or playing an instrument, or push ups will make a difference. It is better than nothing. You will always have time for things that are a priority. Build a morning routine where you take 15 minutes to practice 1 or 2 skills. Your progress won‘t be as fast as if you devoted 2 hours each day to practice, but if a few minutes is all you have, then that will take you further than not doing anything at all.

I believe that the best way to achieve your goals is with clarity. Be specific on what you want and why, identify the most important steps that will leverage your learning process and be willing to seek extra assistance on the way to becoming a master of your skills. Practice a little bit every day, and you‘ll be on your way to become a multi-skilled individual.

Good luck!