Learning is a skill that will serve you in life no matter your career, passion, or background. Whether you are just solving the problem in front of you (MY TODDLER FLUSHED A UNICORN AND NOW MY TOILET WON’T STOP OVERFLOWING) or looking for enrichment in your personal/professional life, developing and cultivating the ability to learn will often be what separates you from success or failure in life. Your mind stays open to possibilities and places you in position that there is always more to know. The world doesn’t seem as closed off and instead full of potential. It brings some amount of humility, cut with the dichotomy of some amount of ego that says, “Yes, you can do this.”

Don’t misunderstand me, you have to learn how to learn. Pushing through imposter syndrome is no easy feat. It’s like being blind, walking through a cave, naked, and feeling like there are eyes on you. The magic sauce comes in pushing through that feeling of self doubt, frustration, and failure. Eventually, if you keep trying and learning from your mistakes (and learning from other’s mistakes) you CAN do the thing.

When you learn something new and solve a problem (tangible or intangible) you grow as a person, develop new tools for your proverbial tool belt, feel a sense of accomplishment, and not to mention that sweet dopamine hit of completing a task. Learning means getting shit done. In a world where it isn’t what have you done for me, but what have you done for me lately, that means opening doors.

I am an engineer by trade and my job is to solve problems. Specifically difficult problems that require a constant effort to stay current in an ever-changing landscape of complex software demands and quirks. You might be surprised to hear that a large portion of my day involves reading documentation on how to use various software tools or functions. Picture a professional plumber reading the instruction manual on how to install a toilet, exposed ass crack and all, in your bathroom with tools and parts spread all around. That image isn’t too far off from the truth of my job. It is like that for everyone in my field, at least the good ones.

A few months ago I had a conversation with the facilities manager for my company. He mentioned that he never really developed any professional skills. I essentially had the same conversation with him as I wrote above. Learning is a skill, and in my opinion the most important skill. The decisions and effort in learning to solve problems he made throughout life lead him to his current job – a job I want to point out that people take for granted. He mentioned that his father instilled in him at an early age that anything worth doing is worth learning and doing right. I’ve seen this guy fix lighting fixtures, wall damage, parking lot deterioration, etc at a professional level. Truly this man can do anything. This guy has never let not knowing be the reason a problem didn’t get solved or solved well. He honed his ability to learn, try, fail, and repeat until he didn’t fail.

If you take anything away from this let it be that every pizza is a personal pizza if you believe in yourself and try hard enough.