How to Learn From Every Experience

I consider myself a sinner.

For my entire life, I loved learning, and to a certain degree, I believe we all do. I think that if you find the right thing, you master it, and you sell it, you can accomplish pretty much anything.

As kids, we usually learn about everything that’s around us so we can understand the world better, but at some point, this world becomes too confusing.

This happened to me right before finishing high school, and I’m quite sure that’s the breaking point for most people.

This is a harsh age because we have one of the “most important decisions” in our lives, which is to choose which career we want to follow.

And the reality is, very few people actually know what they want to do at that age.

I kind of knew what I wanted to study, but at the same time, I was a bit too ignorant ( and to be honest, who isn’t ignorant at that age ).

I say I was ignorant because I didn’t know how things were going to play out in the future, no one does, I know, but I didn’t even take the time to investigate something about what my future could be.

I went to college and I had one year left to finish my studies, but I couldn’t stand it and I just decided to drop out.

It wasn’t for me.

It would’ve given me money, sure, but I don’t understand how working as a software engineer would have fulfilled me.

And I know certain things are not meant to fulfill you, but when you choose something and you’re supposed to do that thing for the rest of your life, you hope it will.

The Consequences

I didn’t care what would happen, of course, everyone went crazy, especially my girlfriend when I explained to her the whole situation.

I always have this feeling of not caring about what happens and I always feel calm because I know if I’m calm I will find ways out.

This philosophy may have hindered my personal development a lot, but I can also say that it has saved my mental health significantly.

However, I’ve discovered the perfect balance that works for me.

Not caring about things can hold back your personal growth because it takes you away from achieving your goals. On the flip side, if I stay calm and collected, I can figure out ways to avoid not caring about the things that got me into trouble in the first place.

As time passed by, I realized I had to do something.

And this is why I consider myself a sinner because I stopped learning.

Many years of my life went by without actually learning anything new.

And when Covid hit it got worse.

My life was a mess, but there was no one to tell me that.

I was sitting on the couch watching streams until late at night.

Playing video games and trying to get better at them.

These were my daily activities.

I aspired to be like the streamers I followed, they were the models I had.

As they say, you’re the sum of the five people you spend the most time with.

But not just that, you’re also what you consume.

You are what you consume, it’s a bit sad but it’s true.

If you have some knowledge of persuasion or human psychology, you would understand how anyone can begin planting ideas in the minds of the population, including yourself.

This is what social media and any other form of mass communication do.

And it’s also what I’m trying to do right now, and hopefully, it is for good.

Once you understand this, you need to be a lot more perspicacious, don’t allow yourself to be manipulated from trend to trend, from current thing to current thing.

I had the luck of being presented with a lot of self-help content that helped me get out of my situation, but what if that had never happened?

I was lucky, but even then it took me years to finally start taking action.

But once I did, I discovered the two things that were holding me back.

The Difficulties

It was difficult to figure this out.

Mostly because I knew how to get out of that bad situation but something was not letting me.

These two things were my biggest enemies.

• Close mindedness
• Old views

Close Mindedness

By this, I mean not being open to new perspectives, and if you are not open to new perspectives you will never change your current situation.

Life is evolving and the world is changing.

If you’re in a good spot right now you might not be in the future

And if you’re in a bad spot right now, there’s no reason to think someone will come over and help you out, chances are your situation is going to get worse.

But we get stuck into these bad situations because of close-mindedness.

I’m not saying that everything we know is wrong, or that every new idea that pops up somewhere is an idea we have to adopt.

What I mean is that what you know right now might have gotten you into a bad spot because your current knowledge is missing a piece that does not allow you to move forward.

Ever since I realized this I have started paying a lot more attention to everything that I consider meaningful happens.

I’m currently interested in making money online.

Let me give you an example:

Have you ever seen these ads on Reddit that promote Spotify playlists? Did you know that they promote a super viral playlist with a song they made in it, so people would just randomly hear it? These playlists can get over 10 million listeners per month, and they make money for every 1000 people who listen to their songs.

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to apply this or try to replicate this, but I at least now understand what these people are doing.

Every time I see something I don’t understand my mind goes: “The people behind this know something that I don’t, and knowing it could help me narrow down my knowledge gap”.

Old Views

Now let’s move on to the other one, old views.

You live in a new world, and if you don’t learn new world skills, you won’t earn new world money

That quote pretty much describes this entire point, but let me introduce it anyway.

Old views, in terms of making money, as the quote says, will earn you old-world money.

As they say, you will be a “wagie”.

Probably your parents or grandparents have told you that you have to follow this path, go to school, then go to college, then get a job, climb the corporate ladder, buy a house, and so on.

Sure, I could get a job in a big corporation and compete with thousands of people.

And sure I could buy a house if they weren’t as expensive as they’re now.

I’m not saying doing these things is impossible but you have to take into consideration the world we live in now.

You can climb the corporate ladder, have a wife/husband, money, and a family following the old views.

Is it the most efficient way? Probably not.

I see this as the Titanic.

Can anyone get onto the lifeboats? Sure.

Will everyone get onto the lifeboats? Not.

Objections

There are a few objections though, at least from my perspective.

• The normal way is a reliable and secure path to attainment
• Another Brick in The Wall Syndrome

The old way is a great path to attainment.

As I mentioned earlier, anyone can get onto the lifeboats.

You can climb the corporate ladder, and even if you don’t make it to the top you will still be well-established at the middle.

I’m not trying to bash the school system, I’m not saying don’t go to college.

What I’m saying is that you must not get trapped in it.

Don’t be a sinner and stop learning or discovering new things just because you feel accomplished.

I’ve always thought that our role on this earth is simply to preserve the human species. It’s almost like a Pink Floyd scenario where we’re just another brick in the wall, and we must serve the system.

At least that’s the idea I had.

This is not entirely wrong, but there’s a knowledge gap, or creativity gap to complement the idea.

We can only keep the human race alive if every individual is also alive.

It’s not about just standing up and keeping yourself stood up, it’s also about standing up well.

Expanding our minds, looking at the world from different perspectives, and analyzing what others are doing not only help us learn new things but also give us a sense of accomplishment when we incorporate these new pieces into the puzzle of whatever it is we’re trying to build.

Planning an Escape

This idea is being sold a lot nowadays.

But few regurgitated ideas actually make sense, and if this topic is being talked about for so long is probably because there’s something that makes the digital nomad lifestyle such an amazing concept.

Working from home, waking up whenever you want, not being tied to a company, doing what you enjoy freely.

These are things that would entice anyone to try to achieve them.

And even if they don’t believe it is possible, they would most probably say: “I wish I had that lifestyle.”

And let me tell you, it is completely possible.

A lot of people are living this lifestyle in 2023, almost 2024.

This is the new “current thing”, as I mentioned earlier.

You can either embrace it or do what the “old thing” wants you to do.

Either way, you will be following the path someone else has laid out for you.

It depends on you.

Do you side with the new ideas or do you adhere to the old ones?

The only thing you have to do is analyze the situation properly.

I’m not saying: “New things are good, old things are bad.”

It’s way deeper than that.

When To Embrace New Ideas?

I have a three-step process for determining if the idea being presented to us is genuinely beneficial

I will go through them one by one:

• Figure out why they want you to do the same thing they do.
• What are you gonna do once you believe it.
• Is your life going to get better once you believe it.

Before adopting a new idea, it must check all the boxes; if not, there will probably be something wrong that will not benefit you in one way or another

Trust Issues

I come from a place where if someone tries to give you something for free you should not trust them.

I don’t think there exists something that is good and that is actually free.

If the product is free, you are the product.

No one gives something for free, it might be free but for sure they expect something in return.

Think about the concept of a lead magnet, you get something for free, and they get your email address.

After that, they can sell products to you that will go directly to your email.

It’s a healthy transaction of value, in this case, money for knowledge.

But how could this possibly go wrong?

Well, there are a lot of scammers out there.

A scammer in the context we’re in could be considered as someone who promises a result, fails to deliver, and doesn’t refund your money.

It’s easy to fall into this trap because if someone presents themselves as someone who is trying to help you achieve something you really want, it would be easier for him to convince you to do what they want you to do.

Right After Adopting the Idea

This could easily be represented in the form of political movements and parties.

They sell you an idea, the idea of a world that would be better for you and for the ones you love.

They attempt to charm you into believing that what they say and do will be the best for your future.

You can come up with many ideas, and examples to illustrate this.

For example, most of the time, opposition to a dictatorial government is initiated by someone who first tries to convince you of something. Now that you believe it, you must act as they tell you.

Can you see how we can free ourselves from this situation if we don’t buy into the idea from the beginning? But it’s challenging to realize when we are being deceived.

Your Best Interest

You have probably seen the pattern now, step 1 will free us from any possible thing that could happen to us in step 2, and step 2 frees you from what could happen to you in step 3.

This is the easiest step because it’s easy for us to know what is good for us.

Although I understand that what is in our best interest could need some sort of radical change.

This blog isn’t about making the whole world better, it’s more about helping each person get better.

I want to help people think and become better, so everyone can be nicer, and that makes the world a better place.

It’s easy to illustrate this concept on a larger scale, perhaps a change of government might be in the best interest of the people of that country. Whether it’s for a better economy, healthcare system, or any other reason.

On a smaller scale, if you embark on a path of improvement, you could easily increase your income and improve your health

Personal Views

In my personal experience, the things that have opened my eyes the most are freelancing and affiliate marketing.

I kind of knew what freelancing was 3 years ago, but I didn’t pay much attention to it, because as I said, I was very oblivious to the opportunities that were presented to me.

When I learned affiliate marketing I discovered why so many websites and YouTube channels were creating all of this content around random products for some reason.

It all clicked.

And everything that I have explained up to this point also makes sense, when I started making money with affiliate marketing, I remember telling my brother and mother about it, and how we could make this work even better by working together.

They were oblivious to the idea.

“Making money by posting articles on the internet? No way works”

“Posting 3–7 second videos? $100 commissions? Doesn’t work.”

Those were their thoughts.

I presented a new idea to them, but their old views and close-mindedness wouldn’t accept it.

It could’ve changed their lives.

Imagine how many things you’re missing out on just because you don’t feel like listening or you don’t feel like taking action.

I started pursuing the new things I learned, I learned web design, became quite good at it, and I’m currently making great money out of it.

I have tried affiliate marketing, and it worked. It’s probably one of the best things on this planet because you get to practice your marketing skills and earn money on the fly.

You need to find something you like, something you can see yourself doing for a long time. Then, market yourself and start offering your services. Try to get a job in the field you’re trying to learn. The best skills you can learn as a freelancer are the following.

• SEO
• Social Media Marketing
• Web Design
• Graphic Design
• Copywriting
• Video Editing
• Photography
• Business Consulting
• Project Management
• Event Planning

Once you have found what you want to pursue, follow people who are already doing that which you want to do.

Be perspicacious, try to replicate what they do, and reverse engineer their social media content, their website, their YouTube channel, and who do they follow.

After that, find a workflow that works for you and be consistent, create a routine, and stick to it.

Do that for half a year, for a year, and realize that you are in a spot that you never thought you would be, and I assure you it will be a good spot.

Conclusions

Open your eyes. Don’t stop learning. Pay attention, great things await.

If you like this post make sure to drop a comment in the comments section, I would gladly answer any questions you may have.