Micro-learning & long-term growth
A case for lifelong learning and the compounding benefits of micro-learning
Over my 20+ years of working, spanning multiple careers, businesses, and roles; one thing has remained consistent for me, and that is an insatiable desire to continue learning new things. As intuitive as some things are now, it’s never come without effort. When I switched careers for the first time, I went from being a very skilled photographer teaching at a local college, to developer who barely knew what he was doing. It took years of hard work to learn the essentials of what I needed to know and even longer to reach a similar level of success, and the learning never stopped.
To ensure the best chance at success, you have to continue learning even beyond the essentials. To this day I’m receiving dividends from being a lifelong learner. Being self-taught is something that was instilled in me at a young age when I was being homeschooled and much of my learning was self-directed.
Although I’m no longer a full-time student, I’ve continued with a lot of small consistent efforts to learn new things. Things like grabbing a coffee with someone in the industry and getting their point of view, listening to audiobooks on my commute, watching a YouTube tutorial on my lunch break, engaging on forums in-between meetings, trying a new format for a sprint retro. All of these things continued to push me out of my comfort zone and gave me new knowledge, experiences and connections.
To put it into perspective, small but consistent efforts add up over time. 15 minutes a day, for 5 years is 456.25 hours of effort.
I had some sense of where I wanted to go next with my career, but it was never clear to me where I would end up. I wasn’t always able to put my new skills to the test at work, so I’d often take on smaller side projects that would push me to solidify the new things I learned. These habits have helped me switch from photography to development, design and eventually product management over a 20 year career.
Many people I’ve worked with in the past didn’t seem to bother learning something new. It was easier to say no, and not expand their skill set. It hasn’t always been obvious to me what new tool, skill or experience would help me get my next role, but the one thing that remained consistent is that sustained efforts in micro-learning eventually leads to a wealth of knowledge.
To put it into perspective, small but consistent efforts add up over time. 15 minutes a day, for 5 years is 456.25 hours of effort. That’s 50-100 books, or 9.5 college courses (28.5 credits). All from 15 minutes that seem pointless at the time.
That can result in amazing things eventually, and that’s only 15 minutes a day. So taking 15 minutes out of your day now to do something for yourself, learn something, or try something new might not seem like a lot but it adds up over time.
If you feel like you don’t have the time, your first job is to change that. Here are a few quick ways I’ve managed to find more time. Feel free to reach out if you want to know more about any of these, or feel ask chatGPT how to implement some of these strategies to free up 15 minutes a day:
Set default meeting blocks: try to use 15 or 20 minute defaults instead of 30
Eliminate unnecessary meetings: make it a shared word doc instead if you can
Group meetings together: don’t have them sprawled across your calendar
Meal prep: could be as simple as making your lunch ahead of time
Learn touch typing: that’s how I’m able to type over 100 words per minute (or use voice to text)
Outsource personal tasks: not everyone can do this, but pick the most time-consuming ones you hate to do, like cutting the lawn
Automate repetitive tasks: tools like Zapier make this easy
Delegate work to others: Get your engineer manager or Associate PM to help spec out your PRD. Bonus, they’ll feel more a part of the process (especially important in more senior roles)
Limit decision making: for example, I own 15 of the exact same shirt
Turn off or reduce notifications: how can you focus with all that beeping?
Time box your work: you could try the Pomodoro technique
Use templates: for PRDs, retros, emails, slack messages, status updates, slide decks
Learn keyboard shortcuts: they save you a very small amount of time, but more importantly help you stay in a state of flow, no more hunting around for menus
Group similar tasks: i.e. do all your emails follow ups at once, one or two times a day
Limit how often you check your email: 2-4 times a day is good
Watch/listen to content at 1.5x speed: It seems weird at first, but you get use to it. Eventually you can do 2x speed with some content (depending on who’s speaking)
Have ChatGPT summarize content for you: also have it write a rough draft, or generate ideas for you