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U-Varsity.com We are a website and blog about productivity, self-development, and more.
Invention: How Important is Innovation and Originality? - U-Varsity. So, you might be planning on starting your own business. Maybe you have an idea for a product, website, book, or technology that you want to launch. Maybe you’re not really feeling motivated to do so because you lack originality. Is originality important? In some ways, it can be, but not always. According to this article from Forbes: Originality is a Creative’s Greatest Weapon And that’s the thing — originality is important to a creative. Kenny G Let’s look at the music of Kenny G. Is it original? But there’s something there. In addition to sounding somewhat commonplace, according to his critics, Kenny G’s music is used in hospitals and clinics across the country to alleviate stress and help patients. Perhaps Kenny G’s music isn’t as unoriginal as we had thought.
And that’s why Kenny G’s critics can’t stand him. Originality: How Important Is It? So let’s say that you want to get into the field of copy writing. The point here is that you can be a copywriter without trying to be original. Self-Learners: How to Study More than One Topic or Subject - U-Varsity. Originally Published September 12, 2021 | Updated January 6, 2023 Polymaths are people who have skills or expertise in several areas of knowledge. We’re All Polymaths Polymathism is about generalized knowledge. Think about what that means for a moment.
Generalized Knowledge Isn’t What You Think It Is When we think of generalized knowledge, we think of spreading butter very thinly over a piece of bread. Now, the thing that adults get doubtful about when it comes to generalized knowledge is the belief that they will be ‘dilettantes’. For instance, you might set out to learn Spanish, so you just learn some vocabulary words. Polymathism: Get Back on Track So even if you believe that you don’t know much about anything now, you were a polymath when you were a child. Why? Because you need to learn how to do all of them. Reading not only helps you to read, but it builds your vocabulary and comprehension skills, which will assist with other subjects such as social studies and science. Make Time. Self-Teaching: How to Interpret Food Ingredients With Weird Names - U-Varsity. It’s amazing how many people take chemistry classes in high school, but still don’t know the words they are looking at when it comes to common preservatives, additives, and chemicals found in processed foods.
Sure, it’s easy to understand simple ingredients like white flour or salt. However, some ingredient names require having the periodic table nearby to interpret. How Self-Teaching can Help You Learn Them You don’t have to be a chemist to have a basic understanding of what these words mean. A little bit of self-teaching can help you demystify what these names means. You start with the whole name, and dissect the word into its smaller components. The goal isn’t to be a chemist, but to have basic knowledge about what these long-named words indicate. What we will do is give you the longer name, and then simplify it into its most easy-to-understand parts (salt, amino acid).
Monosodium Glutamate What it means: It is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. Sodium Nitrate It is a nitrate salt. What Does a Modern-Day Renaissance Man Look Like? - U-Varsity. Originally Published November 2021 | Updated December 2022 Preface: Modern Renaissance Men What is a modern-day Renaissance man? Well, the modern-day Renaissance man is a catchy trope that we use to describe a set of modern characteristics in the tradition of the “Renaissance man”. A Renaissance man is a name we give people who are skilled in multiple disciplines.
The actual name for this is “polymath”. How can we apply the studious characteristics of the well-rounded men from the Renaissance era and apply them to present times? Adult Learning Today: Specialization Not to make this heading sound like the name of a quarterly educational journal, but before we get into why we need more modern-day polymaths, we need to first review the various ways that polymathism expresses itself today. But when you think about it, adults still have a desire to learn more things. Pseudo-Polymathism One could call this ‘pseudo-polymathism’. Get Structure Easily Accomplish More With Your Free Time 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5 Things Every Young Adult Should Have - U-Varsity. 1. A Planner/Scheduler If you haven’t kept a planner, then start it now. Not only will it keep you more organized, but it will also let you know what time you have open. Planners can encourage you to do more and get more involved as you may look at your planner and see that you have nothing to schedule.
And by “planner”, we are talking about a tangible planner. One that has actual pages. The reason for this is because apps do not have a sense of importance to them. In your planner, you can keep your to-do list. 2. Wherever you live, you should have a space — a small space — where you have a desk, and office equipment/supplies. We have a post about this: The Importance of Having a Home Office 3. While you can use your phone to do most of the things that you can do on a computer, let’s get real: just because you can do it on your phone, doesn’t mean that the phone is the best device for it. 4. This may sound trivial, but cleaning is an important asset to organization and productivity. 5. Easy Tips, Tricks, and Other Distractions - U-Varsity. The Over-Reliance of Learning Tips, Tricks, and Hacks The internet is full of little “tricks” that will give people a slight edge without any work. People spend a lot of output on trying to become more successful. Some people have stopped working and have taken the easy way to get the things they want, or so they believe.
Learning Tricks and Not Learning Skills While people are busy learning little ‘tricks’ to get fit, appear smarter, make more money, or get a date, they are allowing for the erosion of other areas they could be developing. The problem with “tricks” is that there is no substance to them. There are a lot of YouTube videos that tease the viewer that a “weird trick” will get them some type of beneficial result. This is what happens when we stop learning and doing the work. Untitled. Anti-Intellectualism: Navigating a Dull Culture - U-Varsity. As America drifts further into an era of utter weirdness, one thing remains the same: opting for the distractions of television, pop music, social media, selfies, drugs, and other vices. We can’t even eat real food anymore because it’s too boring. At the same time, people in general seem to be more opposed to engaging the intellect and settling for the sugary satisfaction of their phone apps and catchy music with dull lyrics.
Here are some ways you can navigate our constantly growing low-brow culture: 1. At one time, it seemed that television was the scapegoat for all that is wrong with culture. But television’s effects on the culture is more prominent than ever. 2. Since the days of “bubblegum pop”, there’s no doubt that popular music is the operating system behind anti-intellectual culture. That said — not all ‘pop’ music is necessarily bad. 3. Put down the best-seller list and pick up an autobiography, how-to, reference book, or encyclopedia. 4. 5. Have real conversations. 6. 7. 8. 9. Enrich Your Weaknesses - U-Varsity. In the adult world, we have a proclivity to want to cultivate only our strengths — which is a good idea. We should always seek to become better at what we are already good at. However, what people are not realizing is how much our weaknesses can assist our strengths, if we could only become better in them.
Take for instance, a professional athlete who has size and strength can become even more useful if he can train his agility. A musician who is good at playing chords can become even better if she starts learning more about scales and music theory. However, becoming good at things outside of one’s field can make them better at what they do. In the 1980s, it was trendy for professional football players to learn ballet because it teaches balance.
But most people do otherwise. Check out our article about how a hobby can peripherally train you to learn things that are associated with your hobby. Self-Teaching: How Imposter Syndrome Prevents Your Growth - U-Varsity. Originally Published November 9, 2021 | Updated December 2022 Stop Sitting on the Fence As we get older, we stop learning new things. Why? They feel like an imposter. To learn new things would mean that you are going outside your lane. In a field that isn’t your own. Something that you have no business learning about. Actually, that is not very good advice. Specialization is a major factor in today’s workplace. This is often great for businesses that handle things like mass production. We also have a culture that discourages changing careers and encourages you to ‘stay in your lane’.
They’ll say, “I could never do that. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that you are not really good at something that you can do well. We all feel imposter syndrome whenever we try something new, like playing a musical instrument for the first time, skateboarding, playing a sport, learning a new language, switching a new career, reading a book or studying a subject that may be foreign to us. Fix It. U-Varsity Promo Video. How to Avoid Being Pretentious - U-Varsity. Culture of Narcissism Americans have a pride problem. I know — you’ve been taught that the word “pride” is a good thing. But that’s because you’re using the wrong sense of the word. Most people use the word ‘pride’ to mean that they are happy or content with the results of something. But that’s not pride. Arrogance The world is full of people who know everything. We could say that it’s because of a vast assembly of information that is available for everyone at any time, right on their mobile phones.
There are some people who refer to their phone as their ‘second brain’. Let’s get real, here. For instance, there is the internet, the media, social media, and those are the three main sources of information for most people in the West. If you are engaged in any type of self-development, or self-teaching, then it may be easy to get wrapped up in your ego believing yourself to be something that you’re not because you tell yourself that you are. So how do we avoid being arrogant? 1. 2. 3. Benefits of Continued Learning and Self-Education in Adulthood - U-Varsity. As we leave schools and enter into the adult world, we believe — for no good reason — that we’re done with learning. This is like thinking that because you worked out at the gym for 2 years that you don’t need to keep working out because those 2 years will pay off for the rest of your life. Of course, nobody thinks that because they realize that the moment they stop working out and going to the gym, that they will not be as strong, fast, and healthy.
But when it comes to education, we think the opposite: 12 years of school… or 4 more years of higher education is all that we need. After that, it’s smooth sailing, right? Not so. You may want to consider these 3 reasons why you should continue to learn, even though you are not in any type of schooling. Three benefits of continued learning: Cognitive Multiple studies show that continued learning throughout adulthood has brain benefits.
I know what you’re thinking: “yeah, but that’s just older people. Success Start-Here Guide for Self-Education. Here Are 5 New Abilities to Learn and Teach Yourself - U-Varsity. If the limit to your abilities revolve around your mobile phone, it’s time to acquire some new ones. That’s why this article is about 5 new things you can start learning today, by yourself. As usual, we recommend you read our articles on self-teaching and autodidacticism in order to get you motivated to learn things yourself: A Start-Here Primer for Self-Teaching We also recommend that you check out our modules on self-teaching: In this article, the 5 abilities we are looking at are: Coding/ProgrammingCopywritingSEO SpecialistA new languageContent Marketing Coding/Programming Since the days of Basic on the Commadore-64, it has been popular for people to teach themselves how to program.
Copywriting I’m not a professional copywriter, but I play one on my website. But enough about that. Copywriting is writing for advertising. Buy a product.Get people interested in a website.Get people interested in a bookGet people to read an advertisement (to get them interested in a product). Language. Here Are 5 Traditional Hobbies That You Can Learn From - U-Varsity. Don’t have time to start a self-teaching routine? Then get a good hobby that enables you to learn from doing something that you enjoy. Here, we are going to talk about 5 traditional hobbies that you can start doing today in which will definitely teach you a little bit of things. Model Cars/Airplanes Making model cars may seem like a child’s hobby at first.
Likely, this is because it is a common hobby for children. However, model cars can be good for grown-ups. PatienceControlAutomobile parts/design Coin Collecting Collecting coins of ancient civilizations is a wonderful hobby for an adult. Economic historyPoliticsRulers of different civilizationsBaseball Cards Metal Detectors Imagine yourself as the guys from American Pickers, finding little pieces of history — only you don’t really have to go any further than your own backyard. You may have heard about metal detectors in cartoons, comic books, or movies… or worse, maybe the airport. GeologyHistory Stamp Collecting Crossword Puzzles. Productivity: Building Good Habits - U-Varsity. Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash Another Good-Habits Article? The internet full of people who are sharing good habits with each other. The self-help industry is full of books about building good habits. Yet, it seems so hard to do — to build good habits and throw out the bad ones.
So what we’re doing today at U-Varsity, is rather than to tell you a step-by-step guide on how you can build good habits, we’re going to have a quick walk-through of areas that we should all be building good habits in. Finance/Budgeting Good financial habits are key. Bad financial habits would be impulsive spending. It’s easier to start other good habits if you can control this one. The idea of budgeting often makes one think of images of someone sitting anxiously at the kitchen table with their reading glasses on, bills spread about the table, trying to figure out how to cut expenses. Instead, make a room in your house a home office to get in the administrative mood. Planning Busyness: the Active form of Indolence.
U-Varsity.com is for Productivity, Self-Learning, and Self-Development. U-Varsity Promo Video. How To Be Normal Video. Be More of a Producer than a Consumer - U-Varsity. 5 Ways to Increase Your Attention Span - U-Varsity % Routine: Easily Accomplish More With Your Free Time - U-Varsity. Routine: The Economics of Personal Time Perhaps your routine is to wake up, eat a pastry, and head out the door. Then you come back home from work, watch television for 4 hours and go back to bed. This is not a productive routine because when you have free time, you use it to stare at a screen.
Most productivity websites talk about having a good routine — at work, that is. Learning how to be more productive for your boss is really not doing much of anything for you because it’s not your business. It only keeps you productive at your job. A Good Routine is More Than Just More Leisure Time Real productivity that benefits you takes place outside of work. This isn’t any spectacular information. Growing Your Competence Routine in your free time is an important step in refining your skill sets.
Nobody’s going to pay you money for reading more books and combatting your intellectual malaise. Routine is Economical As we said earlier, routine is the economics of how you spend your private time. 1. 2. Progress Visualization: How You Can Use Gantt Charts for Your Own Projects. - U-Varsity. Home Office 101: Save Time and Money with Your Own Office Space. - U-Varsity % How Do I Become an Autodidact? - U-Varsity. Self-Learners: How to Study More than One Topic or Subject - U-Varsity. Self-Learning: Your High School Education Was Poor. What to do Now? Learn the basics. - U-Varsity.
Self-Teaching: A Start-Here Guide to for Autodidacts, Self-Learners, and Self-Teachers - U-Varsity. Self-Teaching Autodidacticism: The SQ3R Method - U-Varsity. Putting it Together: Making Sense out of Your Self-Teaching Materials - U-Varsity. Self-Teaching: Finding Quality Reading Material - U-Varsity. Self-Learning: The Books You Read Matter - U-Varsity. 5 Ways to Get Out of a Nonproductive Rut – U-Varsity. How Do I Become an Autodidact? – U-Varsity. The 3 Paths of Laziness: How to Overcome Sloth – U-Varsity.