How to learn
John brought up a really good question the other day: where do you find the resources to learn what you want to?
I could talk about using the internet, or the library, or the bookstore, but what I think is the basic question here is how to learn things. Schools don’t seem to teach how to learn much anymore. They teach how to answer tests, how to present yourself, how to work with others, some facts, but the process of how to learn on your own and a love of doing that seems to be missing.
Fortunately, we have an overload of resources available to anyone with the ability to read and a computer. Here’s what I do:
1) Figure out what I want to know.
This isn’t as obvious as you might think. Say for example you want to learn how to sharpen tools, and you go Google ‘how to sharpen tools’. If you actually need to sharpen a chainsaw, information on sharpening a shovel might not help you. The ability to narrow down exactly what you want is a skill that works in a number of life areas. 
2) Find out where what I need is
This also isn’t as obvious as you might think.
Like I mentioned before, there are millions of possible resources available on a particular subject:
- Family members, neighbors, or friends who might have the skill you need (ask around!)
- Local classes or shops that might give you advice (the guy at the hardware store might know how to sharpen that chainsaw!)
- The library (Is there a book on how to sharpen a chainsaw there? Perhaps the information you need is inside another book about tool-sharpening in general.)
- Internet interest groups
This might sound silly in the area of chainsaw sharpening, but there are email interest groups for just about everything, full of people with years of knowledge you can access for free. Look through Yahoo Groups or Google Groups, to start. Also, if you have a very specific product you’d like to learn to use, there are sometimes user forums for that product (check the manufacturer’s website!) that can give you tips.
- Websites on the internet
One of the things that deter people from using the internet is the torrent of information that appears when you use Google or one of the other search engines. Learning to work your way around search engines is a skill that can come in handy.
As far as I can tell, there are several types of websites:
Many sites combine features, to try to make their site more appealing (well, like right here!).
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to discover sites that provide the information you need to sharpen that chainsaw (or whatever you’ve decided you need to learn). The biggest challenge is to not get sucked up into wasting time reading about things that aren’t pertinent, or to end up buying something you don’t need!
3) Apply the information
This can be the most difficult part. Most of us don’t work in jobs where we need good hand-eye coordination, and learning a manual skill for the first time takes a lot of patience and willingness to fail and persevere. Applying the information we get to a real-life situation (sharpening that ^%&*% chainsaw!) may require going back through the process again, finding someone to show us, or going through a search for tips to make this easier.
Do not fall into the trap of thinking, “oh, I can just read about this and figure it out when I need to do it,” and think you know how. You don’t know how to do something unless you’ve done it. Many times.
So that’s it in a nutshell. If you’ve never thought about this before it can seem frustrating, just like learning to do anything else is at first. But soon you’ll know how to learn about anything you want. 
