The Key to Self-Learning

I love watching children learn something new. Take walking as an example: they stand up, fall, and get back up—again and again—until they finally succeed. That’s how we’ve learned so many fundamental things like walking, talking, and even our entire social behavior. We simply grew into the world through imitation and trying. Learning was always our natural state.

At some point, other skills come into play—those taught in school, during training, or through other formal education. These are sometimes things we wouldn’t naturally discover on our own. Someone else decides the plan: what we need to learn and by when.

So when I talk about self-teaching, I mean learning skills without formal training—essentially creating your own education and becoming your own teacher.

Skills

One core assumption is that every skill has a set of tools — a technical foundation to be mastered.

How do you learn the tools of the trade? Self-teaching isn’t difficult in this regard because there’s a wealth of free online material available. The real challenge is figuring out what exactly those tools are. While formal training makes these choices for you, in self-teaching, you need to explore and identify the key skills on your own.

For example, if I want to learn watercolor painting, I need to understand the fundamental techniques like creating washes, wet-on-wet, dry-on-wet, and dry brush. Only with these techniques can I paint something I truly want to create.

Many skills have hidden dimensions. This is where things get interesting. Even if I master the technical side, there are often additional abilities required to excel. In painting, for instance, it’s not just about technique—it’s also about understanding composition and tonal values. Fundamental concepts like these can make a significant difference. It took me a while to realize this, and I’m still working on sharpening my focus in these areas.

Becoming your own teacher

Progress only comes through regular practice and consistent effort. Repetition alone isn’t enough.

Take learning an instrument as an example: I could play the same songs on the guitar every day for a year, and they’d still sound exactly the same. I wouldn’t have grown at all. That’s why the common advice to “practice 10,000 hours to become a master” doesn’t quite tell the full story.

The key is intentional and deliberate practice. I set a clear goal for what I want to improve, stay fully present in the process, and avoid slipping into autopilot.

Once I’m able to practice intentionally, another crucial step naturally follows: evaluation. I reflect on what I’ve done, analyze it, and decide what I can do differently next time. This feedback loop is essential. It’s what makes you your own teacher—observing, analyzing, and identifying areas for improvement. Once you’ve pinpointed a problem, you can turn to the vast resources of the internet to find targeted solutions.

Self-teaching can be a longer path. If you’re clear on what you want to learn, taking a structured course is often the fastest way. A course lays out the key elements for you, step by step.

But with self-teaching, you’re charting your own path. There’s a unique quality to this approach: the process of discovering solutions for yourself. Trial and error lead to new insights, and these moments of discovery can be incredibly rewarding.