Make a Bucket List for Your Skills
Learning Bucket List, Book Reflections, and a Podcast Rec.
Hello learners,
One of my key priorities this year is to focus on my education. I have friends and cousins who’re 22 and have already finished their masters. And I know, I know, one should not compare to others but it made me question the value of the degree and if I should pursue it.
I took it as a reflection opportunity and asked my peers why they studied what they did and if it’s helping them in their career or business.
Only a fraction of them pursued their interests. Some hoped for a pay raise and better career opportunities after an MBA. Others just wanted to live abroad, enjoy college life, and be done with their studies.
This made me think - what would I study if I could go to college next week?
I did a brainstorming session last weekend to make this list. Sort of like a bucket list of all the things I want to learn this year.
It was a rewarding activity that I started for fun but ended up with tangible outcomes.
I chose 3 key areas:
Skills that help me with my job, or if I start my own business
Skills that help me improve my family business
Skills for self-exploration or just fun
Here’s a sneak peek:
Turns out I can learn most of the above online, even for free.
Later, I backtracked to create a 3-month learning plan and decided to:
Do the IIM-B Operations Management course for the family business
Learn Airtable for Personal Business / Work
40-Day Doodle Course for Self-Exploration
Each quarter will be a personal learning semester and at the end of the year, I will revisit the question of doing a master’s.
How to create your own skills bucket list:
First, create 2-3 broad categories. For example: Career, Hobbies, Fitness, Technology, Soft Skills, etc.
Second, Brainstorm.
Take 15-30 minutes and meditate on your future self.
In five, ten years, what do you want to know how to do?
It doesn’t matter how crazy, or risky the ideas sound. Write down whatever comes to your mind under each category.
Alternatively, you can limit yourself to 1 year like me to start with.
And that’s it. Yes, just 2 steps.
After this, you’ve got to convert this list into actionable items. I’ll cover that in a future post.
Note: This list will never be complete. You keep adding on new skills and remove ones that no longer interest you.
👉 Reply to this email and let me know what your top skills are.
🔖 Book Reflections
I’ve kept myself busy by recording video reflections of the books I read. I posted one on Youtube recently. Check it out below:
You can find 3 others on my Instagram or if you prefer reading, on my blog here.
Other books include:
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier
Zen: The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyo Masuno
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
🎧 Podcast Rec.
Every human being should listen to this podcast. The power we have to create the world of our choosing by Marshall Rosenberg:
“Marshall Rosenberg keynote address at the United Church of Religious Science 2005 Community Gathering in San Diego, California, a lively and witty introductory presentation of Non-Violent Communication showing how we can make life miserable or wonderful for ourselves and others depending upon how we think and communicate.”
That’s it, folks. See you next time!
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If you have any feedback or comments, I’d love to hear from you, just reply to this email.
Cover Photo by Jade Scarlato on Unsplash