It’s no secret that I am and always have been, attracted to and intrigued by a multitude of subjects. And when I get my mind caught on something, I want to research and know everything about it, be it plant dyeing or horse nutrition. We’ve discussed how to learn, now I’m onto what.

During a conversation about strengths last week, I realized, although I haven’t done Strengthsfinder 2.0, that one of mine is probably being a learner. All my life I’ve just sucked up information like a sponge and I love being a walking databank (others, not so much, my brother fiercely protested that I could not always be right, and my friend Nicole calls me “Hermione”). So although I feel I need more strengths to actually put my learning to good use, I think it’s altogether a pretty good superpower. 😉

I don’t know if all superpowers have a down side, but this one does: I get so absorbed in the theory, that I never get around to practice. When I get a new camera (like – once a century or so) I want to know what ALL the buttons do and then proceed to take really boring crummy pix because I’m in technical mode, not artistic. I just watched some videos on Golden products and began making a list, I want that one and this one and I gotta try such and such and…. Never mind that I need an extra wad of cash coming in if I want to buy ALL the things , they don’t do much on their own while I’m reading tutorials (I guess this link totally dates me).

I mentioned brain art before and it goes very well hand in hand with my desire to learn. And nothing to show for it except a lot of supplies!! (And then when I do get cracking I discard all exercises and just do my own thing – I guess I’m weird that way (too)). People are often asking me “what have you made?” (or – can’t you sell your stuff?) Um, yeah, right, what stuff, I’m just playing, err….

Incidentally on my list is for instance black gesso, could somebody please tell me what is was that I wanted that for? 😉 Note to self: when making wish lists, also write down why. (I know what it is – but why?)

I sometimes regret being a jack of all trades and master at none, while I also don’t really want to give anything up unless it fades on its own. And I feel like I’m up to adding more knowledge right now, less randomly. I love to study (much more than “working”) and I’d like to go deeper, the question is, what would be the best method.

I have a whole list of topics that I specifically want to develop further such as Photoshopping and more languages.

So I’d like to know what other people do and why that works best for each of you.

Do it like we used to at school – various subjects every day or week for a few hours/a day at a time, or all-in doing just the one thing for a week, month or longer? Normally I use the completely unstructured variety called “whatever I feel like” which isn’t very efficient because I keep going off on tangents. I think I need to make up a curriculum for myself for, say, the winter? To remove the urge of doing ALL the things NOW.

I’m not planning on taking actual out of the house classes, which is inconvenient for me as well as not very appealing. With bookish topics I want to do MY thing and not wait for everybody else or follow their agenda. I’m much more likely to do weekend workshops on the crafty subjects such as weaving.

So far I’ve been thinking a maximum of 2 topics per week + whatever else I feel like doing, as in not studying per se. What I don’t know is if I can keep up the same two for several months and not even look at other books/articles? Perhaps one longterm and several that take turns for a week or two or until I feel like I’m done with each for the “semester”?

A topic lasting “all” day will most likely be only once a week. I do have some kind of life on the side, ya know? Sometimes I do well with that, other times I can’t focus on the same for so many hours. Half days are more realistic at present. I also have to consider not overdoing it, putting more and more pressure on myself to perform, because then my brain shuts me down completely.

And then after some pondering and writing this post, I’m beginning to think “just one”. One “serious” topic at a time really is enough or I’ll run myself into the ground with ambition. Part of me hates to limit myself like that, but the second thought appeared to say, perhaps it’s also a path to freedom (strange choice of words, but that’s what it said). Can you hear how hectic my previous paragraphs sound? That’s the old me. Do I want to go there? Not really.

Now for the hardest part: pick one from the list. 😉 “You can do anything, but not everything.”