In the last 14 years of my professional career, I have spent 50% of my time in taking decisions which I learned over time, and somewhat know now. These decisions help me and the team move faster. The other 50% of my time goes into learning new things. Things I don't know or know less of. This is where personal and professional growth happens.

In the last 2 years, I learned how to draw an actual hardware. Something which we mildly did for curriculum in engineering drawing classes a decade ago. I learned a bit more on different parts of water filtration and how they all work together. Still learning.

Sometimes, not knowing how to do something can be your greatest strength. More importantly, it'll give you the greatest satisfaction. In 2010, I didn't know about the domain of "UX/UI/Product Design", forget about becoming one. Until 2021, I never thought of designing hardware. Now, there's more exciting stuff ahead!

Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning is a good starting book if you want to gain some perspective around this line of thinking. Also, listen to this How to be creative podcast by Freakonomics. Highly recommend. Here's another recommendation from Arjun on Twitter: The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. I'll read this.

A quick activity you can try: Take on a project you have no idea how to do. Learn how apps in the last 2 years have changed onboarding or designed their home screens. Learn how various home appliances work. Learn a new prototyping tool. Learn your blue-collar staff use popular apps for their day-to-day use.

Document what you learned & the process. That's it.

This blog is part of Blogtober 2024 series from October 1 - October 30, 2024.