Learning in public

Hi there, and welcome to my blog.

This is my very first blog post. This is an especially daunting thing for me, because the only thing I can see is a vast blank slate in front of me. I'm not informed enough to write about a technical topic, nor am I experienced enough to write about my tech rodeos. I figured I would begin with something close to me this week. The idea of learning in public.

Since the very beginning, my parents have programmed me to be competitive. In studies, extra-curricular activities, literally everything. They meant well; they wanted their child to be the best. They wanted to see their child shine in all aspects.

But that isn't realistic. No human is perfect, or meant to excel in everything. And to their disappointment, I am as far from perfect as someone can be. Neither my parents nor me knew it at the time. As a result this spawned a competitive mindset in me that I am still trying to fix. This also spawned an inferiority complex in me whenever I see someone more accomplished in something I wish to learn.

My parents always encouraged me to be secretive. They instructed me to move in stealth. They taught me to 'move in silence, let your success make the noise' over and over again. Which is a great thing, in essence; but I had misunderstood it.

If I wanted to excel in something, I kept that information away from my friends as much as possible. I kept that information away from the people who I thought are well informed in this topic, in a bid to 'move in silence'. For me, information was ammunition. The man who withheld the most information succeeded. As a result I found myself scrambling to figure things out compared to the people who actively discussed what they did with their friends and with people who are experts. I found myself all alone, forced to figure out everything and having to iterate over making mistakes and learning from them.

I feared if I told anyone about my knowledge, I would lose my advantage. I would lose my headstart. I thought I was ahead of everyone, when in fact I was 5 steps behind them. It took me a long time to realize this attitude of mine was doing more harm than good.

I then came across the idea of 'learning in public'. For me this idea was terrifying. This idea was literally all my fears combined into one. It challenged all my beliefs, my very programming. But I realized that I value feedback and positive criticism more than losing my so-called 'headstart'. I realized I value mentors and connections more than me giving away my advantage.

How much time would've been saved if only I had opened up to people more! How much effort would've been saved if I had just shaken off the fear of losing my 'advantage' and actually consulted people who knew what they were doing! It's a very irrational fear, considering the fact that whatever knowledge I possessed, was worth nothing in retrospect. I looked at people around me and I thought whatever knowledge I had was a big deal, when in fact, in the grand scale of things, it was not even close to anything important. It was just basic knowledge that everyone possessed.

Recently I made a twitter account. And I was smothered with people my age being extremely talented and accomplished. That completely scared me. But over time I stopped fearing them and started seeing what I could learn from them. And that totally changed me.

"A fool learns from his own mistakes, the wise learn from the mistakes of others."

And that brings us to today. This is a topic I otherwise wouldn't have talked about to anyone, but I figured, in the spirit of learning in public, I would just put this out here. This is the story of how I ditched my old ideals, faced my fears and grew both emotionally and logically. It took me a long time to switch from a closed-source mindset to an open-source mindset. Something that could help me and a lot of others.

This has been one of the most eye-opening things I've went through. I urge everyone who is reading this blog to follow the 'learning in public' principle. Talk to people about the things you learnt. Contact the experts in the field you want to master. Who knows? Maybe your friend has something to tell you about that subject that could be a game changer for you? Maybe the expert has something to tell you that could save you from a lot of pitfalls in the future? The list is endless because there are an infinite number of things you can learn from an infinite number of people. Being in your shell would do you no good.

I believe the greatest value comes from communication and learning from the mistakes of others. By shutting yourself out from the world you put yourself at a major disadvantage. The year is 2022; there are more people willing to help you than any other year in history. You can learn so much from so many people. This is the true advantage. The person who understands this will succeed.

And that, brings this post to a close. I hope you enjoyed reading this rather embarrassing and half-cooked blog post of mine. (I swear I'll write a better post next time!) I regularly post about what I've learnt, so if you're interested in that, subscribe to my blog!

See you next time!