You’ve achieved Subject Mastery, Now What?
Can you really achieve subject mastery? With the rate of change happening around us, can we truly master any subject if we want to continually grow and evolve? I have written several posts on subject mastery, but I have never given a thought to what happens when you “achieve” it. This post was inspired by Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work. Kleon writes, “When you feel like you’ve learned whatever there is to learn from what you’re doing, it’s time to change course and find something new to learn so that you can move forward. You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again… So don’t think of it as starting over. Think of it as beginning again.”
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Subject Mastery: Reading the Right Books
Austin Kleon makes an excellent point in Show Your Work, that after you have learned what you committed to learn, you have to rinse and repeat the process to stay relevant and valuable to yourself and your employer. The reality is that if you are pursuing subject mastery, there are many topics of interests that you have to cover with the subject. And there are likewise a variety of skills to acquire.
How do you know what to study next?
Steps to Begin Subject Mastery Again
Each year, it is important to create a learning and development plan. Choose subjects to master based on a need. If learning a new language will score you a promotion, enabling you to travel to other countries where the firm operates and expand your skill set, then that language is what you have to master. If impending government legislation will change the way you do your work, then you need to get up to speed on the new regulation, so that’s where you will spend your learning time. If there are inefficiencies within the company, perhaps finding ways to remove them may be what you could be learning. Base your training on learning subject matters that will make a major difference in your life.
After you have decided what you need to learn, you have to schedule the time to learn, to demonstrate a commitment to learning. I find that learning first thing in the morning is best for me. While I was taking courses for my informal liberal arts education, from 6:00 to 9:00 am, Monday through Friday, I was in front of my computer taking courses. I was able to accomplish a lot at the scheduled time, but one thing I learned about myself, is my threshold for the length of a class has changed. I get very antsy, and my mind wanders when classes are more than two hours long, and my preference is one hour. There are many outstanding free courses available, so check for those first before you spend any money. Last year, I took 12 courses and only paid for one.
While taking courses, I took detailed handwritten notes, but I hate typing up notes, and am not very fast at it, so I didn’t do a great job of transferring my notes to my computer. I remembered more because I took notes by hand, but I got the real benefits, when I reviewed all my notes. That’s one of the best ways to master a subject. Learning shouldn’t take place in a vacuum, there are ways to connect everything you are learning.
Based on my experience, I have a few recommendations for you. I wrote about my experiences in several blog posts that you can learn from. You’ll learn how to find courses, how to choose them, how to create a place for all your subjects so they are easy to access, and much more!
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- Free Online University Courses
- Create a Learning Plan, the Key to Structuring Learning and Keeping Skills Sharp
- Personal Learning Environment: Choose Your Courses
- Personal Learning Environment: Keep Track of Your Courses
- Free Electronic Textbooks to Keep Your Skills Sharp
- How to Create Your Own Textbooks
Get Started Here – I want to help you get started on your learning journey today! Read the related posts, and don’t forget to join The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge today, connecting the ideas from the books you read!
In the meantime, THANK YOU for your time… Thank you for sharing this post, and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter! What was your biggest takeaway from today?
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