On
countless occasions, you've likely said to yourself "I wish I knew how
to do ______." Then, of course, life got in the way and you put it off
until you could find the time. Maybe you wanted to become fluent in a
language, learn a new instrument, start performing your house repairs,
or a master a myriad of other skills. With the vast amount of knowledge
online, you're now your only excuse. Here are the top ten most highly
desired skills that you can teach yourself—and should.
10. Repair Just About Anything
Sure,
you don't need to repair anything anymore. You can just pay someone
else to do it. But where's the ingenuity in that? Plus, who wants to
waste a bunch of money on simple tasks you can handle on your own? If
you've adopted the DIY spirit, learning to repair your own stuff is one
of the easiest and more rewarding skills you can acquire. It's
especially fruitful because as you learn new things, you can put them to
use right away. So how do you teach yourself? We've outlined tons of repairs you can learn on your own to get you started, but if you're looking for something specific there is no shortage of how-to videos available on YouTube and VideoJug.
There will be occasions when you do need to call a professional, as
you're not going to be a master repairman (or woman) instantly, but do
remember that there is an opportunity when things break: you can learn
how to fix them.
9. Pick Up an Artistic Skill Like Illustration, Painting, or Photography
Although
it often won't earn you the big bucks, artistic skills are highly
desired because they provide you with the technical abilities required
to create something beautiful. You're going to have to find your own
inspiration and subject matter, but the skill you'll need is really just
a matter of technical aptitude and practice. Picking up a book of
anatomy and drawing different bones and muscles will teach you how to
draw people. Drawing grids over photographs can show you basic
perspective. Obviously it isn't as simple as that, but focusing on
learning to draw one simple thing, like the petals of a flower or the
human hand, will help you learn how it works and get in a reasonable
amount of practice. When you're ready to move on from the basics and
start illustrating on your computer, check out our digital painting lessons. For those of you interested in photography, we have lessons for you, too.
Whatever
you're looking to learn, just set aside 15-30 minutes every day to
practice a very small part of that skill. It'll take awhile to teach
yourself how to draw, paint, take better photos, make hamburger
sculptures out of clay, or whatever it is you want to do, but breaking
the daunting task into pieces and practicing each part slowly will do
the trick. Plus, it's a really nice way to unwind at the end of the day.
8. Learn to Defend Yourself
Who
likes getting their ass kicked? Probably a very small majority. If
that's what you're into, it doesn't require much skill—just endurance.
If you'd prefer to not end up hurt or injured as the result of
an unexpected attack, perhaps it's time to pick up some self-defense
skills. While you'll probably want to have a partner around to help you
out—at least when you want to test your skill—we've outlined several self-defense moves
that you can learn on your own. Although you will hopefully never need
to actually employ the techniques you acquire, if you do you'll increase
your chances of coming out of a fight unharmed. Plus, it's pretty cool
to walk around with the confidence of being able to take on most anyone
in a fight.
7. Improve Your Design Skills (or At Least Acquire a Sense of Style)
Design
and style aren't an exact science, as tastes differ and change as time
goes on, but there are a few principles you can pick up that'll make
your work, home, or whatever needs an aesthetic boost looking better
than average. If we're talking traditional design, you'll first want to learn the basics of type and layout.
These are skills you can employ in your everyday work to make it look a
lot more attractive. This may seem like a nearly-useless skill, because
spreadsheets aren't getting entered in any beauty contests, but when
something looks good it can have a greater impact. That's always a plus
in your work. If you want to take things a bit further, you can bump
those skills up a notch and apply them to web site design in Photoshop. Your sense of style is even a useful thing when choosing a great wallpaper and creating a clean and organized desktop on your computer. If your home is boring, just follow these guidelines for awesome interior design. You don't have to be a pro, but learning the basics of design can make your life a lot brighter.
6. Pick Up Just About Any Subject You Missed In College
Whether
it's science, finance, math, humanities, law, or anything else, if
there's a course you wish you took in college you're not out of luck—you
can probably find it online. To help you out, we've rounded up every great source of online education
so you can gain that knowledge you missed. What's great about learning
online is that you can take it at your own pace and put in as much time
as you can spare each day. You don't necessarily have to master a
subject, either, but learn as much as you need or want to know. While
you won't end up with a degree for your hard work, you will be a little
bit smarter—and that's the most important part.
5. Build and Hack Electronic Hardware
We love technology, and we love it more when we can make it do pretty much whatever we want. There is almost no end to what you can hack, but getting started does require teaching yourself a few skills. Learning to build a computer is a good place to start. Soldering is especially helpful, and understanding the basics of arduino can help you build some really neat stuff. One of the best ways to get started is to pick a project and learn by doing. If you're not sure where to start, our DIY tag page can offer a few ideas.
4. Play a (New) Instrument
Whether
you already know how to play an instrument and want to learn something
new or are musically inept, you'll find plenty of resources online to
help you teach yourself to play just about anything. If guitar is your
thing, you're in luck as you'd be hard-pressed to not find online lessons. JustinGuitar.com offers over 500, and we've rounded up plenty more. The internet can also teach you piano, drums, and even orchestral instruments like the flute and violin. Just like with repair skills, you can find a lot of how-to videos on both YouTube and VideoJug.
In addition to the instrument, you're also going to want to learn a little music theory. Ricci Adams' musictheory.net offers a bunch of free lessons to get you started. When you're starting to get good, you can put together a home recording studio on the cheap to start capturing your talent and sharing it with others.
3. Cook Like a Pro
With
so many recipe sites and cooking skill how-to videos online, it's a
surprise that everyone isn't a master chef at this point. There are so
many simple things you can learn that can vastly improve your culinary
skill set really quickly, many of which we've covered.
We've written so much on the subject of learning to cook better that
this little paragraph isn't enough to cover it all, but there are a few
posts in particular that you'll want to read to get started. First,
these tips and tricks for budding foodies will make your learning process easier. Second, follow this station-by-station kitchen guide to stay organized and efficient when cooking. Finally, these must-know recipes will help you round out your arsenal of cooking knowledge. For more, we like recipe and how-to sites Epicurious and How2Heroes. And, of course, you can always check our how to and kitchen tag pages for more great tips.
2. Become Fluent in a New Language
When we asked you which skills you really wanted to learn, language was at, or close to the top of many peoples' lists. Fortunately for you, this clever technique
offers a way to all but master a new language in a short period of time
by teaching yourself. You'll still have to work hard and put in the
minutes every day, but you can come out speaking fluently in about half
of a year. Pretty cool.
1. Make a Web Site, Create an App, or Just Learn to Code
Learning
to code is something most of us Lifehackers aspire to do at one point
or another, as it's not only a great way to create cool apps and tools
that we want to use but it's also an incredibly marketable skill when
trying to get a job. To get you started, we've put together two helpful
sets of lessons: the basics of programming and making a web site.
Both sets
include further resources, but there are plenty of others that we've
learned about or have cropped up since. For starters, commenter mistermocha suggests using the "learn ___ the hard way" series. For example, if you wanted to learn Python, you could visit learnpythonthehardway.org.
If you just fill in the blank with the language you want to learn and
put that into a web search, you'll likely find what you're looking for.
(You can also find most of the series here.) If you prefer more interactive lessons, you'll want to check out one of our favorites: Codecademy. I learned by subscribing to online learning site Lynda.com
(and through a few basic classes back in college), which is still
excellent, but I'd probably have gone with Code Academy at this point
since it's in the free category. Regardless of how you decide to learn,
programming skills are becoming more and more useful as time goes on.
Code is not as complicated as you think, so go get started!
Photos by Mister Wilson, Alex Indigo, Andy Mangold
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