Self-education is the process of acquiring new knowledge without the participation of a teacher, teacher or coach. This form of development of a person’s intellectual potential can become an alternative or a significant addition to the traditional learning process.

To begin the process of self-education and self-development, try to clearly set goals: what you want to do and what result you are striving for.

Make to-do lists

If you feel a certain stagnation and lack of intellectual development, start making lists of specific tasks. This will help you stay on top of what you want to do and help you plan your time better. Write down the titles of the books you want to read and set deadlines. After reading a book, it would be good to watch a movie based on it to look at the plot from a different point of view and expand your knowledge of the subject.

Add new communication

Live communication is an irreplaceable source of new knowledge and interesting views that differ from your own. Being open to talking to new people never hurts. On social networks you can freely communicate with people from all over the globe - this is a unique opportunity not only to enrich yourself culturally, but also to improve your knowledge of foreign languages. Live communication gives a person not only knowledge, but also certain skills, increases his emotional intelligence, develops the ability to be a good interlocutor, overcome conflicts and respect the position of another person. A private school can help you gain in-depth knowledge.

Self-education is also possible with the help of online courses, seminars, webinars, trainings and educational programs on the Internet. Here you can freely select the field of interest to you to study and methods for obtaining information. After all, new knowledge and ideas do not immediately end up in books and other printed publications, and even more so in the curriculum of educational institutions. If you want to independently study a certain industry, you can create an individual program: choose information, approaches and methods that are interesting and convenient for you, compile a list of relevant literature and monitor the implementation of this program.

Finding time is easy

It is much easier to find time for self-education than to attend an educational institution. When you take the subway or other public transport, it’s convenient to read and watch videos, and when you go for a run or walk to work, listen to audio books and podcasts. Moreover, you save not only time, but also money - when studying on your own, you do not need to pay for the services of teachers, and most resources are available completely free of charge.

Topics for future articles are found by the authors themselves - for this, it is often enough to live an active day and communicate with other people. Today, talking with the lovely accountant Tatyana from the next office, we touched on the topic of self-education, what it is, and what a passion for self-education can lead to. Tatyana and I decided that the opportunities for self-education today are enormous))

It is clear that she and I were not the first to discover this truth, but when I came home and opened my mail, I read and saw a cry from the soul, which I quote in the original for complete clarity:

If you think about it, there are so many opportunities for self-education now! You can learn on your own any language, the history of any country, geography, physics, chemistry - whatever. All textbooks are online, collections of scientific articles with the most advanced developments and discoveries are published, there are online audio materials - books in original languages, radio broadcasts... Study - I don’t want to! And for some reason, the majority of people really don’t want to. Strange.

It is rightly said that brevity is the sister of talent; the entire topic of the article is revealed in a few phrases. It would seem, what else to write about? Believe me, we are so frivolous about the opportunities that exist in our lives, or rather, they run past our lives, since we don’t pay any attention to them, that it’s time to think about the opportunities we missed, and after some time... then it's time to regret it.

Look, today almost everyone has a computer with Internet access, but we do not use even a tenth of the opportunities with which we could improve our lives. Everything around us seems to be a deception, a scam, unworthy of us personally dealing with it. Is that what the majority thinks?

But we have learned very well, and we know how to complain about low wages, how to make jokes in the comments to an article about current events in the country, how to spend an evening, or even a day, wandering around social networks and spending pointless time. The opportunities and prospects that the Internet provides us today, in connection with gaining access to an unlimited flow of information and information, can help in increasing the level of our own development and acquiring new knowledge and skills. But not everyone likes it.

It’s boring, someone will definitely say... And someone is already making the most of what others consider boring. And since we are all very different, each will be right in his own way and will defend his own point of view.

And yet, if I can plant even a small seed in the “fertile soil”, I am sure that changes will definitely occur in each of us, and for the better.

There have always been opportunities for self-education

There have always been opportunities for self-education: Remember, at school we were always given homework, students had and still have to acquire additional knowledge during theoretical studies in educational institutions, a long time ago it was completely normal to enroll in some kind of club or section and reveal your talents one after another. All this was free, or did not require as much money as it does today.

Yes, today it is more difficult and complex than before... But did you know that difficulties strengthen and make our character stronger? Why should we suddenly assume that having paid money and sent ourselves or our child to a music school, we must study there until retirement? What if this is not what we thought was our life’s calling? What should I do?

Try and move on. But first, you need to try to determine your strengths and weaknesses, I described a good way in the article, so that the journey does not take too long and does not become costly in terms of money. After identifying your strengths, take two or three areas in which you are interested and comfortable. And start studying.

That is, you can independently master both new directions and those that you have forgotten over time, or if you understand that there is no career growth in the workplace, you can develop yourself within the framework of your profession. So let’s think together about what you can teach yourself:

Health and healthy lifestyle

Since a modern person today must have a number of certain virtues, skills and abilities, you can start with yourself, thereby improving the opinion of others about yourself and reinforcing your confidence in your abilities. You can increase your knowledge about a healthy lifestyle, play sports, find like-minded people online, and discuss the results achieved with them. A huge amount of practical advice can be found on how to dress stylishly and look beautiful. Look for such information if you realize that it is exactly what you need.

Oratory

To improve your communication skills, you can work on your pronunciation skills. Take a public speaking course, this will significantly increase your weight in the team and increase your value in the eyes of management. To begin with, take 45 sayings in a single text (read aloud).
Save it so you don't forget..

On Thursday the fourth at four and a quarter o'clock, the Ligurian traffic controller was regulating in Liguria, but thirty-three ships tacked, tacked, but never got caught, and then the protocol about the protocol was recorded as a protocol, as the interviewed Ligurian traffic controller eloquently, but not purely, reported, yes did not complete the report, did not complete the report, and reported so much about the wet weather that, so that the incident did not become a contender for a judicial precedent, the Ligurian traffic controller acclimatized in unconstitutional Constantinople, where the tufted laughter laughed and shouted to the Turk, who was blackly stoned with a pipe: don’t smoke, Turk, pipe, buy a better one a pile of peaks, it’s better to buy a pile of peaks, otherwise a bombardier from Brandenburg will come and bombard him with bombs because someone with a black snout dug up half his yard with his snout, dug up and dug up; but in fact the Turk was not in business, and Klara was sneaking to the stall at that time, while Karl was stealing corals from Klara, for which Klara stole the clarinet from Karl, and then in the yard of the tar widow Varvara, these two thieves stole firewood ; but it’s a sin - not laughter - not to put it in a nut: about Clara and Karl in the darkness, all the crayfish were making noise in a fight - so the thieves had no time for the bombardier, and no time for the tar widow, and no time for the tar children; but the angry widow put the firewood into the barn: once firewood, two firewood, three firewood - all the firewood could not fit, and two woodcutters, two woodcutter-woodcutter, for the emotional Varvara, expelled the firewood across the width of the yard back to the woodyard, where the heron withered, the heron withered, the heron died; the heron's chick clung tenaciously to the chain; well done against the sheep, against the well done the sheep itself, to which Senya carries hay in a sleigh, then carries Senka Sonya and Sanka on a sled: sleigh hop, Senka on the side, Sonya on the forehead, everything in the snowdrift, and Sashka only knocked off the bumps with his hat , then Sasha went along the highway, Sasha found Sasha on the highway; Sonya - Sashka’s friend was walking along the highway and sucking a dryer, and besides, Sonya the turntable also had three cheesecakes in her mouth - exactly like a honey cake, but she had no time for a honey cake - Sonya, with the cheesecakes in her mouth, would over-mix the sexton, - over-mix: it buzzes like ground beetle, buzzing and spinning: was at Frol's - Frol lied to Lavra, will go to Lavra to Frol Lavra will lie, that - the sergeant with the sergeant, the captain with the captain, that the snake has a snake, and the hedgehog has a hedgehog, and he has a high-ranking the guest took away the cane, and soon again the five children ate five honey mushrooms and half a quarter of a quadruple of lentils without a wormhole, and one thousand six hundred and sixty-six pies with cottage cheese from curdled milk whey - about all of this, around the bell the bells were ringing, so much so that even Konstantin, a Salzburg unpromising man, stated from under an armored personnel carrier: just as you can’t ring all the bells, you can’t beat them again, so you can’t talk all the tongue twisters too quickly; but trying is not torture.

Learn to type quickly

Taking a touch typing course will improve your productivity, especially if you type on a computer. Re-read about this method of learning in the article In fact, there is nothing complicated. In a nutshell, download the program from the official website (link in the article), install it on your computer, and take 10 or 11 lessons for free. Then pay Shahidzhanyan 200 or 300 rubles on his cell phone, and train for another 90 lessons in a row. The course is so exciting that I remember typing at night to get ahead. To be honest, everything progressed with difficulty, since having made 3 mistakes, I had to retype the text again, and with each lesson the texts became longer and longer. But it’s so exciting to type better than others, or than you did yesterday! I envy those who are still learning.

Second degree

Using the power of the Internet, you can get a second or additional higher education. does the impossible - teaches us from a distance. This is where you have to work hard on your own - we know that you won’t be able to copy on the Internet, you’ll have to rack your brains.

Books

Books, e-books, e-magazines... An excellent source of knowledge - we always turn to books when there is a need and necessity. By the way, you can buy the books you like online quite inexpensively; you can go to Ozone and look at the catalogue. Look at what those people you like and would like to emulate are reading.

Financial literacy

It’s strange why people always count money so carefully at their work, and do not do this at all in home accounting? And accounting, as such, may be completely absent at home. Take a notebook, draw columns in it: date, receipt, expense, name, balance - and you will be happy! You will finally find out how much money you spend per month on food or other expenses, and you will be able to draw appropriate conclusions. Take part in webinars by different authors, compare, expand your knowledge on how to become a financially literate person - they don’t teach this in school. Don't let poverty into your life - learn to count.

Extra skills

This will be everything that you consider additional, for example, you write articles with talent, but you don’t know how to optimize photos at all. Learn, and with additional skills, you will have the opportunity to earn additional income. For those who want to learn any craft (knitting, embroidery, cooking, confectionery) - there are a huge number of interesting people and courses online that will be an indispensable source of information for obtaining effective results. Find examples online where experienced craftsmen successfully sell their work, and you will see that demand still exceeds supply. As an example, I can cite Nelly Fedosenko, she always writes very interestingly about new business ideas; for some of you, her newsletter will probably be a source of inspiration and new ideas.

New profession

It happens that the profession, as they say, has become boring, and you want something new. See how other people can make money using their time online and on social media. , for example, the profession of a content manager, or a social network administrator, and bring tangible benefits not only to other people, but also to yourself as a financial benefit.

Teach others!

Surely you know well something that other people don’t know. Perhaps you are an experienced accountant, or an experienced lawyer, and know how to translate laws into Russian and explain what to do in a particular difficult situation. It is possible that you know better than others not only how to do repairs well, but also how to explain how, for example, you can hang wallpaper correctly. Create your own website, share useful and free information with people, and conduct paid consultations via Skype. If you win people over and convince others that you are a competent specialist, then there will be no end to clients. Use this opportunity, don't miss it.

Foreign languages

Probably only in Russia the majority of its citizens speak only one language - their native language. Meanwhile, learning a foreign language via the Internet is quite possible - you just need to want and do it. Find yourself a teacher from whom you would like to learn. Today, learning a foreign language is not difficult: we have at our disposal ample opportunities for textual information, audio and video, if you wish. Amaze yourself, your family and friends with your abilities in learning a foreign language.

Strengths are those that make money

I once read a good phrase:

Strengths are those that bring in money.

Undoubtedly, this is something to strive for, since an adult is often motivated by rather prosaic things. And yet, realizing that the possibilities for self-education are endless, staying outside the ongoing processes will not be to the taste of many. If there is interest and a person thinks about how to apply the acquired knowledge, then self-education begins to work. And if he finds a combination of self-education with his deep creative programs, then he turns out to be a unique specialist.

The modern rhythm of human life does not always allow one to fully attend university to obtain additional education, take courses and long-term trainings. Despite this trend, the need for constant development and advanced training does not disappear, but only increases: every employer needs professionals. It is possible to deftly get out of a difficult situation. This can be done using relevant educational sites. All you need is a desire for self-improvement and a couple of hours of free time every day.

In addition to the well-known methods of learning on YouTube, there are a lot of other useful and exciting programs about which, unfortunately, there is little information. Even if they don’t teach you how to scuba dive, they will definitely increase your level of knowledge on a particular topic.

5 websites for those who are passionate about art

1. https://artchive.ru is a Russian-language platform for everyone who is interested in fine arts. A huge virtual art gallery is supplemented with interesting facts, information about artists, exhibitions and other thematic events. The site is useful for beginners and professional artists, collectors, art dealers and ordinary users.
2. https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/– all Google users have the opportunity to plunge into the world of artistic art. The corporation has developed a special website that contains the most famous collections of artists that have left their mark on the history and development of the movement as a whole. You can examine in detail not only the paintings, but also the museums that house the masterpieces.
3. https://www.drawspace.com – if studying theory and reviewing famous paintings is not enough for you, then it’s time to start practicing. The DrawSpace website will help you try your hand at fine arts. You upload a picture and repeat it according to the displayed instructions. Everything is simple and accessible.
4. https://photo-monster.ru – taking beautiful photographs, as everyone knows, is an entire art, the subtleties of which not every photographer masters. This Russian-language platform will help photographers solve many pressing problems, and will also share some tricks and subtleties of the matter.
5. http://teoria.com – it is impossible to master the art of music without practice, as the site’s creators knew. Here you can find both theoretical nuances and a lot of tutorials for working at home.

5 sites for general development

1. https://postnauka.ru - simple, accessible and exciting. A site with posts on various topics, supplemented with original content and unique information.
2. https://www.lektorium.tv is a constantly expanding portal with video files and lectures from leading experts and educational institutions. To gain knowledge, just enroll in the chosen program.
3. https://4brain.ru/ – Russian-language courses, articles and lectures for self-improvement. If you spend your free time using this site, it will not be useless.
4. https://theoryandpractice.ru – you can find out previously unknown information here, starting from the title page. The materials are not tied to a specific topic, so the site is useful to all users.
5. https://thequestion.ru/ is a platform for eternally curious people who wonder why. Current, problematic and noteworthy issues are addressed here.

5 sites for learning English

Why do you need a self-education plan? This may seem like a lot of work when you could simply buy 3-4 books on the topic and start studying them, right? But no. One of the main problems with self-education is that, without a clear plan and understanding of what and how to learn, it is very easy to get confused and give up the whole idea. This is why you need to first study the topic and create a plan - it will be a kind of compass with which you will begin your journey.

In addition, the plan:

• motivates;
• helps fight disorganization;
• serves as a visual reminder.

Drawing up a plan for self-education is an energy-consuming process, but it pays off with interest. The most important thing it gives is organization. It's easy to find thousands of excuses if your thoughts are in chaos.

It is also worth noting that teachers draw up a self-education plan for themselves. Such a tool can be useful to any person who is engaged in self-study and improves his skills.

Four types of plans

We will talk about four types of plans, each of which you can use independently or combine. Create something of your own that suits you.

Time based plan

This plan is universal: it is suitable for those who want to study one or several subjects at once.

Everything is simple here: you “book” a certain amount of time in the morning, afternoon and/or evening, after which you create your schedule, hang it on the wall and stick to it.

Place based plan

It's a cunning plan because it puts you in a position where you can't help but learn.

Places can be very different:

• a park;
• library;
• favorite cafe;
• public transport.

The essence of such plans is that you purposefully go there to learn. Surprisingly, sometimes it’s easier to motivate yourself to do it in the library rather than in the next room.

And, of course, it can be combined with the foreground.

Free plan

The free plan is fundamentally different from the others in that no goals are set during the learning process. Instead, you should keep a journal in which you record what you've learned, what progress you've made, and where you're going.

With this approach, you are often surprised because you simply give yourself, say, two hours of time without knowing what you will study. Some freshness remains and motivation increases.

The disadvantage of this plan lies in its own advantage: you can waste a huge amount of time on unnecessary things.

Goal Based Plan

To create this plan, you need to find three main goals that you want to achieve. Based on them, the entire training program is built.

This plan can be combined with others to find the perfect balance and satisfaction.

Now let's find out how to create a self-education plan.

How to make a self-education plan

Find out why you want to learn this skill

This is a preparatory step that should be taken very seriously. We often do thoughtless things that cost a lot: both time and money. In terms of training, everything is even more critical: you can waste several months, or even years.

This is especially true if you want to learn programming. In order to start making money in this field, they say you need to study from six months to a year and a half. So if you don't feel motivated or enthusiastic enough, then maybe it's not for you.

It's all about being intrinsically motivated. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Do you want to find a job that is more meaningful and important than your current one?
• Do you want to find a higher paying job?
• Do you want to change the world?

Even if the answers are a little pretentious, it is important that you understand that they are honest and frank.

The preparatory stage is completed. At the second stage, you will need a sheet of A4 paper or an electronic file. This is a must. You need to create a step-by-step instruction for yourself so that it constantly looms before your eyes and does not allow you to be distracted by anything unimportant.

Make a list of goals

This is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. You should come up with as many goals as possible so that you can compare them later and choose the most important one(s). So don’t limit yourself to something like “I want to learn how to create a website with WordPress” or “I want to learn how to knit a sweater.”

So, the list of goals is ready. How to choose the most important ones? First of all, you need to find out whether any of them are combined.

A combined goal is a goal that opens up more opportunities for you:

• Learning a new language can help you move to another country or get a better paying job.
• Learning Java will increase your income several times.

If you learn to knit a sweater, then most likely it will be an end in itself.

Therefore, ideally, you should choose goals that will significantly move you forward. This also has a positive effect on motivation.

Select one to three goals. There shouldn't be too many of them. At the same time, they can be quite ambitious, but not prohibitive.

Make a list of resources

You can either find everything you need on the Internet. Here are the resources you should consider:

• MOOC courses;
• books;
• magazines;
• blogs;
• educational videos;
• attending conferences and lectures;
• internship;
• volunteer work;
• trips;
• finding a mentor.

At the same time, you must understand that there is not enough time for everything. It is important to choose 3-5 main resources and focus on them. The rest is only worth pursuing if you purposefully set aside time to try something new.

Set key learning points

These are the points by which you can track your progress. Learning is a long process and sometimes boring, but the main difficulty is that you will not immediately get results.

In addition, an ambitious goal can easily suppress your psyche, especially at times when motivation tends to zero. Therefore, establish the key points:

• a certain number of written pages;
• website creation;
• Intermediate level in English;
• creating a phone application.

Set a schedule and daily routine

Learning is not something you can cram into your life and hope it will work. This is the basis, the Sun, around which all planets must revolve. Don't forget that you are studying to make your life significantly better, which means that this becomes your top priority.

Create a time frame for each goal. What are you going to do today, tomorrow, next week, in six months to achieve your goal? Make sure you master the skills and learn how to manage your time well.

Create a daily routine. You must change your life, because it will no longer be the same - it is naive to hope for this. A lot will change because you will be dedicating a large amount of time to learning.

So, let's repeat: you must change your daily routine, book time to learn your skill. And also set a deadline in order to keep yourself on your toes.

Track your progress

Tracking progress is the very process that positively affects the level of motivation. As has already been said, during the learning process you will not immediately begin to receive practical results, which means you can give up at any time. But not if you track your progress.

By tracking we primarily mean keeping a diary. You write down everything you studied and how you studied it, as well as how much time it took. Document every little detail. After a few weeks, it will be possible to draw certain conclusions based on this information. You will learn to identify trends, understand your strengths and weaknesses, bad and good habits. And finally, you will begin to draw the right conclusions, adjusting both your behavior and your self-education plan.

The English-language Internet offers a wide variety of applications that you can use to track your learning progress in order to adjust your plan if there are inaccuracies or gaps in it.

• Degreed. Learners use Degreed to quantify, track, and organize learning from any source, both formal and informal.
• Diigo. Simplify the operation of your information system and improve performance. Also adds digital marks and notes to PDFs, saves links, images and pages, and encourages collaboration and sharing with other students.
• TopTracker. This app can be used to track the time you spend in Photoshop or other digital tools (and therefore suitable for web designers and programmers).

The writer Isaac Asimov is said to have once said, “Self-education is the only education you have.” It’s hard to argue with this, because you are the one who knows best what you want to study. The main thing is to create an effective plan and strictly follow it.

We wish you good luck!

There is too much knowledge around. We try to remember a lot of empty information, we worry that we haven’t covered something yet. But if knowledge is not needed and you rarely access it, it is quickly forgotten.

Select the main thing

You can't learn everything at once, you have to make choices.

How to understand which interest is the most important? Greg McKeon in the book"Essentialism" gives two radical pieces of advice. First, if you can’t say a definite “yes,” then say a definite “no.”

Second, use strict and explicit criteria. For a new activity, choose three optimal criteria that are significant to your life: for example, it should raise your self-esteem, give pleasure and bring money. The more criteria a new practice captures, the more valuable it is to you.

Rate the practice

Once you choose an activity, find out what you can achieve in it. Find out how developed the practice itself is: does it have clear criteria for success and failure, are it staffed by experts and do they develop their own teaching techniques? If the practice is established in society, then you will clearly see where you are going. If there is no clarity, then it will be much more difficult to develop.

Set a specific goal

You can’t just “learn to run” or “speak English.” It is better to turn your self-education into a project with specific tasks so that it is clear when you have achieved your goal. Imagine what you want to achieve and what you can realistically achieve within the given time frame. Don't try to "get good at grammar", but choose the 10 most important topics, find as many exercises for them as possible and make a final test for yourself. Determine the time frame: 3 months. The deadline must be clear.

Build your horizons

The best solution for self-development is to build your horizons around a project. If you study English grammar, read comics, listen to podcasts about the history of the language, go to a lecture on linguistics. If you need to prepare for a half marathon, watch documentaries about famous runners, read sports magazines, find out the national and world records for the distance. Outlook will help the project and outline the path to new topics.

But if you completely subordinate your horizons to the project, you will get not an outlook, but a specialization. Therefore, it is better to free some time from any kind of plans, let it be an open space for fleeting interests: random books, video games, lectures and anything other than running and grammar.

How to organize your workplace

The workplace should motivate learning. The best way to energize it is to use the priming effect. It has long been used in marketing: images from the environment influence us even when we are not aware of them. This means that if you hang motivating works, posters or diagrams above your desk, they will penetrate into the learning process without conscious effort. Choose images that are quickly read. Complex patterns like geographic maps or endless lists are weaker: they need to be analyzed.

Give up portraits of dead geniuses - we are motivated not by their haircuts, but by success stories. Better use inspiring examples of skill: a short paragraph from a good writer, a bright collage, a photo of your favorite athlete at the finish line.

Think not only about the workplace, but also about the work environment. It includes any locations where you can practice. The main criterion is an atmosphere suitable for self-study. Local stadiums, embankments, secret paths in parks for practicing your running steps - or your favorite cafes, libraries, museums for practicing English. Create your own self-learning network. When it’s too dull at home, or, conversely, it’s too far from home, it’s the work environment that will support motivation.

How to work with information

Start anywhere

Adjust the scale, change speeds

Any exercise and any work can be worked out in detail or superficially. Plus, you can change the speed at which you learn the material. If you get stuck reading Faulkner in English, try to speed up: forget about details and strange expressions, the main thing is to finish reading. The brain will receive a complete image of the story, and you will understand the unusual vocabulary when you reread it.

Sometimes, on the contrary, it is useful to bury yourself in details or slow down at a difficult moment. Assess your current cognitive load and select the optimal scale and speed.

Protecting motivation: how not to break down

Make a schedule

The worst way to stay motivated is to work on inspiration. It is fickle and uncontrollable. Mason Curry's book Genius Mode has a terrible title but a great idea: writers, musicians, and architects of all kinds believed in the great power of schedules. Run for at least fifteen minutes every day, and in a year you will be at a completely different level.

There are many tricks to getting the schedule right. It is advisable to work at the same time of day: then the schedule will become a habit.

Set yourself not just small, but minimal goals. Those that can be achieved with virtually no effort. This approach eliminates self-flagellation: don’t think that you couldn’t do something and didn’t have time, even a small success is a success.

Finally, among these small tasks, always highlight three that are enough to complete so that you can go to sleep with peace of mind at the end of the day.

Plan for graduation and reward

The commitments you make to yourself are pressing, and they need to be balanced with irresponsible rest. Always indicate exactly when - up to the minute - you will finish. The behaviorists are partly right: we are all laboratory mice in search of positive reinforcement. When you finish a lesson, reward yourself with a cup of coffee, a walk, or an interesting book. The reward should be simple pleasure. You can’t reward yourself with something useful and responsible: I studied English for an hour, and now if I reward myself with an interval run, I’ll lose it in a couple of days. Rest should be relaxing.

Even if you miss it, don’t quit

Perfectionism destroys good habits. The worst thing about self-study is to give up everything because you missed it once. It is much more useful to accept yourself with all your gaps. It is better to complete 30% of your tasks than to do nothing.

Don't keep a debt book of failures. Don't try to make up for a missed workout on Thursday with two or three workouts over the weekend. The more obligations, the more difficult it is to fulfill them. Keep doing what you can. And always remember the minimum goals.

Prepare for obstacles

Most of the obstacles that derail your schedule can be easily anticipated. If you jog three times a week and have a trip out of town, think about training in new conditions in advance. If you have a microeconomics exam, reduce your time on English grammar to 10 minutes a day.

Find your people

Studying alone is difficult. Even if you set up the learning process yourself, you will still need an outside perspective.

Without criticism, any person slides into distortions that slow down learning. In addition, when motivation comes only from within, any personal problems threaten self-development.

Find people who are also interested in running or English. Start with amateur forums. You will understand how it is customary to talk about running, what problems athletes have. Make contacts, look for allies and, most importantly, determine who is best at running. The most useful self-learning friends are experts who are willing to share their experiences. Pay attention to other self-taught people, solidarity can work in your favor.

Look for a balance of cognitive load

Monitor your own cognitive load. On the one hand, it should be heavy enough not to get stuck on one level. On the other hand, overload reduces motivation and can disrupt the entire process. Find your balance that suits your schedule and learning environment.

Your goals are outside your comfort zone

By repeating irregular verbs over and over again, you get used to it, you become calmer and more pleasant, and you don’t want to leave your comfort zone. But if you do not overcome the boundaries of comfort, the development of the skill may stop.

At the same time, you cannot jump over them with one extra effort. You need to move gradually. Try irregular verbs in different conditional sentences, then gradually move on to mixed type conditional constructions. Set small goals outside of your comfort zone.

How to Use Feedback to Learn Faster

Test yourself

Without feedback, a person is not able to develop in his chosen business. In self-learning, feedback is what is most lacking. It doesn't have to come from an expert; sometimes you can evaluate yourself. Dancers and actors use mirrors for feedback. With English grammar, the most effective way is to constantly test yourself. You read a new paragraph and immediately prepare a list of questions with clear answers that can be easily checked. Take your test and mark your mistakes. Swap the questions and after a while, test yourself again. In her online course Learning how to learn, Barbara Oakley provides many such methods; her book “Think Like a Mathematician” is available in Russian.

The faster the feedback, the better

Psychologist Anders Erickson, studying professionals in various fields, came to the conclusion: the faster a person receives feedback, the better he learns the material. The longer the interval between practice and evaluation, the slower we develop.

Teach someone else

When you teach another person, you feel more responsibility to him than to yourself. Set yourself the goal of telling your friend why you need to change your stride length while running and how to do it correctly. You will prepare more thoroughly, tinker with the material, and look for more understandable arguments.

Look for different experts

Of course, the easiest way to learn is to periodically turn to experts. Even if you don’t have money for good tutors, nothing prevents you from following the public activities of experts: blogs, speeches, free master classes. Make a map of English language specialists so you know who to ask important questions. Remember that the best feedback is given by those who are successful in their business and know how to explain well. And never rely on one expert, even if you really like him.

Find a coach, understand his criteria

Occasionally you can meet an expert who explains things well and is ready to share his experience on terms that are convenient for you. That is, he can become your “trainer” or “master” in the medieval sense of the word. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu considered studying with such a master more productive than formal education.

But confining your education to one person is dangerous: you can quickly lose autonomy. In the case of an expert trainer, the main goal is to understand his evaluation criteria. Then, over time, you can continue without it. The main risk in this case is personal relationships that can interfere with learning, so communicating with ordinary experts is easier than with trainers.

How to track your progress

Document the process

Keep a journal to track your progress. The downside to keeping a diary is that it quickly becomes an extra commitment that you want to quit. Therefore, essentialist McKeon suggests not writing a lot in your diary. Just come up with a title for your day and describe your achievements in one phrase. This minimalist diary does not require mental energy and records the main points in learning.

Designers have their own documentation format - a sketchbook. This is a notebook or small album for notes, sketches, collages and experiments. If you work with visual material, for example, researching the running techniques of famous athletes, then a sketchbook is ideal. Running in general is easy to document: there is a whole market of apps for runners. They collect all your training data and even make recommendations.

Hang photos from competitions or your texts in English above your workplace - they will remind you of bright breakthroughs or the most interesting mistakes.

Analyze your past work

Past achievements are not just a memory. Without them, you will not understand your educational habits here and now and you will not be able to change them. Re-read your diary, look through old works and statistics in applications; look for patterns.

You will find out which grammar materials were easier for you to work with and which routes you ran faster on.

Collect your ideas

Ideas arise anytime, anywhere. As soon as a thought flashes, write it down in your phone or notebook - where you constantly look. Most of the ideas will be useless: either banal, or time-consuming, or fantastic. But occasionally original and feasible solutions will appear, so keep notes for them. In addition, the accumulated ideas will show how your creative mind works.

Learn from your mistakes

Mistakes say more about the learning process than ideas. Ideas are rarely translated into reality, and mistakes always appear in practice. Most often, they reflect the characteristics of your approach to learning. We repeat them constantly. Not making the same mistake twice is a utopia and a cliche for business literature. Therefore, collect and study your mistakes.

Experience means mistakes. It is errors that set the boundary of the comfort zone; it is they that determine the balance of cognitive load. If you want to grow above yourself, make mistakes faster.