Learning in public
How I'm choosing to leverage the technologies of the open web to accelerate learning, collaborate with interesting people, and get fast feedback
Hey there!
If you’re one of the first subscribers to my newsletter, this should be the very first article in your inbox. This is all pretty new at the moment, so forgive me for any teething issues that arise. But without further ado, let’s jump straight into the content:
A lot of things have changed for me over the past month, spurred by the shift in energy I’ve experienced after my recent sleep apnea surgery. I’m treating life as a blank slate, and that means that I’m giving myself the freedom to break from the old habits, assumptions and beliefs I strongly held on to in the past. I think that that’s one of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves, and one of my biggest goals is to cultivate this attitude of welcoming change, no matter what stage of life I’m in. Wherever you are in life, I hope you’re making room for that too.
On this particular note, one of the biggest things that has changed for me is my relationship towards social media. People who knew me personally in the past would know that I held a lot of disdain for social media sites - Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and the like. Heck, I wrote a 2500-word article on my old blog enumerating its various harms, and outlining why I ultimately chose to stop using social media altogether. I used to genuinely believe that we would be better off in a world without social media, and I was judgmental of anyone who made a living off of creating content on those platforms.
How surprising then, that in the past few weeks I’ve not only made my Instagram account public, but started posting daily stories, linking to other social media and content creator platforms, with additional plans to hold live streams on youtube in the very near future. The truth - or at least how I see it now - is that there is nothing inherently wrong with social media, and it only depends on how you use it. It can be used as a way to build a curated facade to inflate your ego, or as a form of short-term stimulation and escapism. But it can equally be used as a means to share your interests and collaborate with like-minded folks. And in my case, I’m only beginning to see the true utility it can offer for the latter.
Specifically, something that’s really caught my attention is the idea of learning in public. The author, Shawn Wang, makes a compelling case for why should publicize our learning endeavours in order to progress as quickly as possible. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. And I think it’s for two simple reasons - feedback and accountability.
When you’re learning a new skill on your own in private, there are several major hurdles you encounter. First of all, you don’t get any feedback from actual people other than yourself. As learners we hardly know what’s right to begin with. Furthermore, it’s already been clearly established in psychology that we are the most blind to our own shortcomings, which does us no favors. Secondly, since nobody else really knows what you’re doing, you have no sense of accountability or any impetus to get things done. It’s easy to give yourself a break and choose the easier path when there’s nobody watching. That’s why MOOCs have such atrocious completion rates after all (and I would know).
By making your work as visible as possible, you tackle both of these problems. You’re basically waving a giant flag that says: “Hey everyone, look at me! I’m about to try something I’ve never done before!” - naturally, there will be critics who would love nothing more than to gloat over your failure - but fuck that, because it’s not important, and you actually want to fail. Failure is the best teacher in the world. What’s important are the people who take notice that you’re trying, who offer you a helping hand and give you the push you need to see your project to the finish line. What’s important is that you make it easier for the next person to enter and pick up from where you left off. What’s important is that on this chaotic mess we call Earth, you did something that had a positive impact on someone and made things just a little bit better.
Personally, I have several outlets I intend to leverage in order to learn in public:
Instagram: Mainly for informative posts on my hobbies and interests in environmentalism, cooking, fitness and DIY projects (but also clowning around). I’m hoping that through this, I can get in touch with people with similar interests and find opportunities to learn and collaborate on cool projects.
Substack: Writing is basically my learning exhaust. I’ll try to distill all the lessons and takeaways from my life experiences into this blog, so I hope you’ll continue to stay tuned.
Youtube: I have a lot of software projects I want to build, but it’s notoriously hard to complete a project on your own. So I’m going to livestream myself working on the project and talking though my thought processes. I honestly don’t care what response I get - the important thing is that it’s out there.
Medium: I’m probably going to use medium for tech-oriented writing, basically explaining the design decisions behind some of my completed projects and discussing tradeoffs, limitations and avenues for future development. Good writing is just as integal to software development as good code, and I want to practice both.
I should also add a disclaimer here, though. I realize a big part of my decision to go so much more public is also due to my personality. I’ve always been someone who wasn’t afraid to break the ice and try silly things in a group, and growing up, I’ve always had a desire to be involved in social activities. Unfortunately, sleep apnea prevented me from being fully involved in those activities, and more often than not, I would feel left out after a while. I suppose that’s what drove me to exhibit more avoidant and introverted behaviors before. But now that that’s all out of the way, I’m excited to see just what I can do.
Questions to ask yourself
This is just a little thing I thought would be pretty cool, inspired by James Clear’s 3-2-1 - I’m hoping to make this a regular thing that comes along with every post:
The daily habits that reinforce your strengths are also reinforcing your shortcomings. Are you aware of them, and how do you intend to deal with them?
What’s the biggest failure you encountered this week? What can you learn from that?
When was the last time you sank into a deep squat? (If it’s been more than a week, I beseech you to do so now)
Catch you next time,
Emmanuel