On building skills for free
As I鈥檝e mentioned a few times on here, I鈥檝e been taking piano lessons since early February. When I come home, though, my materials are mostly books I鈥檝e been gifted or printed out from various places and I practice on an old electronic keyboard or by walking to a local church and practicing on the older piano in their basement.
While I鈥檓 not at all what I would consider good at this point, I can see that I鈥檝e started to build some skill at piano playing over the past several months. I can read simple sheet music and play it. I can play a handful of simple songs from memory. By simple, of course, I鈥檓 referring to songs people know 鈥� like 鈥淲here the Saints Go Marching In鈥� or 鈥淔ur Elise鈥� in fairly simple arrangements without a lot of flourishes or anything.
It feels very good, and it鈥檚 particularly fun to set goals for myself, like 鈥淚 want to play Song X from memory without errors鈥� or 鈥淚 want to be able to open this music book to a random page and be able to play what鈥檚 in there.鈥� I鈥檓 looking forward to being good enough and confident enough to play in social situations 鈥� I鈥檓 not there yet, but I can see it down the road.
What I鈥檝e really learned from this is that it鈥檚 really empowering to learn a new skill 鈥� and it doesn鈥檛 have to be all that expensive, either. There are so many new skills anyone can learn out there that the only thing missing is your motivation. You don鈥檛 need money 鈥� for many skills, you just need time and a little bit of motivation.
Skills pay off in a lot of ways, too. Yes, sometimes they鈥檒l turn into a career, but sometimes they鈥檒l just help you to assist a friend or work through social awkwardness or help add some spice to a social situation (like piano playing, for example). Those things have great value as well 鈥� there are few things more valuable than a strong social network.
Most people, when they think about skill-building, envision a classroom, a teacher, a bunch of expensive supplies, and tuition bills. That鈥檚 only true if you鈥檙e looking to earn some sort of certificate to write about on your resume, but it鈥檚 certainly not needed to build many skills you might wish to have. Instead, here are five free resources anyone can use to start building up many of the skills they might want to learn.
Hit the library. There鈥檚 a 鈥渉ow-to鈥� book on virtually anything you would like to learn about at your local library 鈥� and if it鈥檚 not there, they can probably get that book via interlibrary loan. I glanced at the self-teaching piano books at the library recently and there were dozens of them 鈥� in fact, I checked out two of them myself, just to read different angles on the ideas.
Hit Freecycle. If you need equipment, one great place to start looking for it is . Basically, Freecycle is a resource for people looking to give away unwanted things 鈥� and many of those things are quite nice and useful. Subscribe, pay attention, and you鈥檝e got a good chance at finding the things that you need. I鈥檝e walked away from it with multiple items over the past few years.
Request use of public facilities. Many communities have facilities available for many, many different activities, from basketball and tennis courts to churches with pianos sitting in their basements. If you need equipment to do what you want to do, spend some time studying what鈥檚 available to you already.
Participate. If there are groups in your community focused on whatever skill you鈥檙e trying to build, whether it鈥檚 public speaking or woodworking, make an effort to join that group. Don鈥檛 be ashamed of your 鈥渘ew鈥� status or your lack of equipment. Quite often, if a new member joins a group like that and shows some passion and initiative, the other group members are often really happy to help the new person get rolling.
Trade. If someone else has access to the training or equipment that you need to use, work out a trade with that person. Could you swap some of your already-existing skills for access to that training or equipment? A good old-fashioned barter usually leaves both participants in a much better place.
Most of all, just do it. If you鈥檙e sitting there dreaming about some skill you want to build, I can only guarantee one thing: continuing to sit there and dream about it won鈥檛 build the skill. Get up and start doing it. I can鈥檛 tell you how long I dreamed about starting to play the piano, but it wasn鈥檛 until I started actually doing it that anything happened.
You鈥檝e got to do it to be able to do it.
------------------------------
海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.
