iwtl - does anyone else start learning something and then completely stop 2 weeks later?

[u/SurajGannaure]

This happens to me way too often.

I'll randomly decide:

"ok i'm finally gonna learn X."

Then i'll spend like 2 days finding the best resources.

YouTube.

Reddit.

Articles.

Books.

Courses.

I'll make some beautiful plan in Notion.

Week 1: amazing.

Week 2: okay.

Week 3: gone.

And honestly i think the biggest problem for me is that when i'm learning by myself, there's no accountability at all.

If i stop, nobody cares.

If i'm behind, nobody knows.

If i'm doing something wrong, there's no one to tell me.

So i'm actually building something around this and i wanna know if i'm the only one.

The idea is basically:

You tell it what you wanna learn and how much time you have.

It gives you a structured path from free resources already available online.

Then you can join a small group of people learning the same thing.

You set weekly goals, check in, see everyone's progress and basically have people who know whether you're actually doing the work.

The learning itself would be free.

I'd charge for the accountability part.

So for students here:

what are you currently trying to learn outside of college?

what usually makes you stop?

do you have anyone keeping you accountable?

would you actually use/pay for something that solved this?

Be honest. If this sounds useless, tell me why.

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[u/knox1138]

So I find that having a goal makes the difference. Like, I wanted to learn basic coding, so I made a robotic arm. I wanted to learn CAD and 3d printing, so I got a cheap 3d printer and started making plastic parts that were broken on some of my stuff. I wanted to fix an inverter for my car so I learned basic electrical repair and soldering.

[u/SurajGannaure → u/knox1138]

bro you're literally learning by giving yourself side quests

honestly tho this makes a lot of sense. you're not really sitting down thinking "today i need to study coding", you have something you actually want to build/fix and learning is just what you need to do to get there.

i think thats probably something i should think about for Pathly too. instead of just giving someone a list of things to learn, maybe the path should eventually get them to actually make something with what they're learning.

do you think you'd still have trouble staying consistent if you had a goal/project you really cared about, or is the actual problem mostly finding something you want to build in the first place?

[u/knox1138 → u/SurajGannaure]

If i didn't have a goal in mind I'd definitely have a harder time, and I also take it VERY PERSONALLY when I'm trying to figure something out. Everything I want to do has already been done by numerous people long before me, so I should be able to figure it out. The biggest thing that keeps me interested is a challenge.If it's too easy I don't need to learn it until there's a need then I'll worry about it when the need comes. I take that approach with automotive repairs. Learning how to send, recieve, and practically use UART communication between microcontrollers is an example of something I struggled with. Because it was a challenge I thought of it as "you're just concepts! you're barely reality! i will learn and master you!".

[u/Skyogurt]

I think the biggest "trick" is necessity. Hear me out. If whatever you're trying to learn is something you see as "nice to have", "something that will make me feel like I'm cool / smart" then you're going to struggle even just to set up a system of accountability, let alone learn the actual new thing. I'd argue at any point in a person's life, especially if they're younger and not fully established, there's always something that they *need* to be learning in order to either survive, or at the very least suffer less, in whatever circumstances they find themselves in. But people usually prefer chasing after the shiny cool thing instead of acknowledging the flaws and blindspots they currently have that's holding them back in life. Anyhow I think the whole business model of charging people in exchange of providing them with an external structure of accountability is solid. Most people just really need it in order to stay consistent and speed up their learning. The problem is that most students don't usually have the disposable income to spare, or maybe they do but it's going to be a hard sell because they would rather purchase other things such as experiences. You're better off targetting young professionals who have the financial capability and the maturity to actually seek out services and mentorship that they identify as necessary (back to this idea of need) in order to support their goals.

[u/nazgul_123]

AI post