Years may wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Samuel Ullman
I’ve always felt that continual growth is one of the keys to living (and aging) gracefully. To remain curious. To learn. To try new things. To reinvent yourself. To push out of your comfort zone. It also plays a huge part in creating a satisfying and fulfilling life. So today I’m going to share four FREE resources to jump start your next learning or personal growth endeavor.
Don’t try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them.
Betty White
DuoLingo
Learning a foreign language is one of those bucket list goals for a lot of people. DuoLingo offers free web and app-based courses in many languages from mainstream (Spanish, French, Italian) to more obscure choices (Navajo or High Valyrian anyone?). I’ve been taking the Spanish class for quite some time now, usually completing 5 little lessons a day. This takes about 10 minutes and my vocabulary and ability to read has improved dramatically.
Exercises are a mixture of written and verbal activities. Often you’ll be asked to translate a sentence or fill in the blanks with an appropriate translation. Once you have a strong base in vocabulary, you many want to supplement with a Pimsleur course or by attending a local language-based Meetup group. These sources provide more opportunities to practice actual conversations so you’ll be able to flawlessly order that “helado de fresas” en Espanol on your next trip to Mexico!
aka Strawberry Ice Cream!
YouTube
Maybe you’re more of a crafting goddess than a polyglot! Or just want to learn how to perform simple household repairs yourself, instead of having to call a handyman. Enter YouTube!
Knitting, origami, flower arranging, mosaics and quilting are just a few of the crafts with tutorials on the Crafts Channel. For household tasks, like recovering a chair or changing the air filter in your car, just type the activity followed by “YouTube tutorial” into your search bar and, voila, you’re on your way to a new skill!
Coursera
Is career growth your primary concern? Then be sure to check out Coursera. They offer over 700 FREE courses, many focused on data analytics, programming, finance, leadership and communication.
As one of the largest providers of MOOCs (massive open online courses), Coursera’s college level courses are typically taught by university professors from some the nation’s most renowned educational facilities like Emory, Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern.
Podcasts
Podcasts are my learning tool of choice when working out or on longer drives. As with YouTube videos, the topics are nearly endless. While the bulk of the podcasts I listen to involve blogging, I recently listened to this podcast on Dr. Phil’s “Phil in the Blanks” and found it super-interesting! TEDTalks , Travel with Rick Steves and Stuff You Should Know podcasts are more favorites.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Henry Ford
Happy learning friends! Thanks so much for visiting today and have a wonderful weekend. For more on personal development, check out these posts.
