19 March 2025

Learning

Two months ago, I got laid off. I was ready for this possibility: that’s not what this is about. I knew I was looking at a few months of leisure that I had to intentionally balance with professional and personal growth. After a full day of burning off emotions by splitting firewood, I sat down and set up a plan: making sure that while I take the needed vacation, I’ll keep the momentum.

I set standards: every two weeks, I’ll (1) write a recommendation for a former coworker, (2) write a blog post and publish it on LinkedIn, (3) learn something new in the field and publish the findings, (4) develop a piece of my consulting business, (5) write a non-work-related piece, (6) maintain work-related relationships with in-person meetings. At this point, I kept about half that pace, though I’ve done other productive things for growth, and I missed some of the ones I aimed for. Looking back, that’s fine.

I’m 32, and I never pursued anything I didn’t consider fun - maybe I learned that twenty years ago, by reading Linus Torvalds’ “Just for fun”, or maybe that book just confirmed my mindset. Either way, it takes motivation to do things, and finding or developing that motivation is up to the individual. I’m proud of myself and my ability to keep being productive: writing, engineering, mentoring. I still hold office hours, I still have 1:1s. I’m still doing hands-on work. Most importantly, I’m still learning regularly: the list of drafts of blog posts is only increasing.

I still have room to grow: I haven’t yet found a way to motivate myself to reach for visible learning achievements, such as certifications and degrees. I could never convince myself to learn something for the sake of showing that I know it: learning by doing has been my internalized motto.

This is my system, the trickery I learned over the years for my own quirky brain. I’ve figured out how to hack myself productivity over the years, even during times I’m not working. Find ways to work with yourself: no one can do it for you. Everyone has different ways to do it, some are similar - some are polar opposites. If you know you lack the drive to keep hacking at a subject, like I certainly have, try different ways to get your brain to enjoy it. You’re bound to find one.