Easy Ways to Learn a New Skill
Wire in some beginner’s luck.
Perhaps you’re already convinced to begin something new to you, but as you settle in to start, you get stuck on the first steps forward. Thankfully, there are several ways to shape your learning curve. No matter how you learn best, having people on your side who have already thought about how best to sequence mastery of a certain new skill will probably give you some momentum and confidence for the climb.
Chef’s kiss to this.
We thought we were going to need an Italian grandmother to ever master the Italiano kitchen classics, but we’ve been eating up our classes with Casa Mia Tours. You sign up, receive an ingredient list and then work along with other beginners. The virtual experience goes surprisingly well, with the instructor using multiple cameras to make sure you nail it. After class, you receive a recipe card and recording of the class. Magnifico!
Bring back the je ne sais quoi.
Sadly, our five years of French barely gets us a croissant. With Paris on our list of places we want to revisit when the world reopens, we’re determined to use this break from the bon voyage to return confidently and triumphantly speaking français. For that we’ve turned to Babbel, which puts the emphasis on speaking (read: avoiding the endless conjugation chores) and rewards progress with a gamified interface.
Career boost.
Fun fact: In movies, the upper right hand of the screen is where a director places things they want noticed. So it’s kind of amazing that we’ve slept on LinkedIn Learning, which sits in that coveted spot on their homepage. Here we’ve discovered a treasure trove of both hard and soft skills for any number of professions. You simply choose subjects of interest and the geniuses of LinkedIn recommend courses from there. Lesson learned.
Phone home.
We’ve all seen the launch announcements of new iPhones with a full rundown of each version’s capabilities, but somehow we never feel like we’re getting the most from our supposedly smart phone. Enter Apple at Home, where the uber helpful store workers will walk you through everything from making better videos to making your own sweet music.
Make it easier at the easel.
Maybe like us, you’ve imagined returning to the freedom and joy of art classes, but when you surveyed various IRL courses, they never seemed to be at a time that would feel either free or joyful. After scouring several reviews, we settled on Will Kemp Arts School. With the receipts from places like Italy and the UK’s fine museums, Will has a number of free and premium courses and believes innate artistic ability lives within each of us.
