Putting It All Together

Putting It All Together

What I have attempted to present here are the guideposts that I have seen throughout my career as a mentor, learner, and developer of skills in people in person and virtually around the world. There are three things to consider as you apply these to yourself:

Guides, not rules

The learning journey is one that is meant to be explored and trailblazed on your own. There aren’t any rules that govern it, and you should encourage yourself to wander and let yourself explore things that are of interest to you. Even if that is just for you.

Cultivate, not complete

Your learning journey will be like a garden, where you need to cultivate, prune, and care for the skills you develop and build over time. The journey is never done, but it can rest from time to time. That cultivation also can’t be predicted, so the waypoints along the way will change, and it is important to have that mindset when you start.

Do, over intend

Intending to do something means that it is never explored. I have often slipped into this, and one time caught myself saying, “I’m planning on when I’ll start thinking about doing [this thing].” That was a lot of words to basically say I’m not doing anything. Don’t lose precious effort and time, build value, explore your journey, and place skills in your network of channels…by doing them. I need to continue to tell myself this every day.

Whatever your journey is, and wherever it takes you, enjoy it—because it is uniquely yours.

Up next

In the next series, we will look at some core technology concepts and help demystify some of them so you can learn more and explore a vast ecosystem.

Doug Winnie previously worked in various digital skills, education and product management roles at Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Adobe. Doug is also a LinkedIn Learning author with multiple courses on digital transformation, product management, and computer science. Doug is also the editor of the LinkedIn newsletter, “Digital Mindset” that publishes weekly on LinkedIn.