I Forged My Own Path: 3 Steps to Help You Forge Your Own

The world is changing and in many ways that is a good thing.

The typical road to getting a quality education is not the same anymore, it has become more decentralized, more accessible and certainly more affordable.
There are exceptions to the rule of cause, like if you want to become a doctor you will need formal schooling. Other occupations like being a pilot, engineer or an architect also require the respective formal education otherwise, the world would be a bit of a shit show.

For the most part, however, there is so much you can learn at a fraction of the cost and not only will you dodge parting with too much of your hard-earned cash, where you learn and what you learn is a lot more “in your hands”.

As you may already know, I never had the chance to go to a formal university. Well, if I am being honest, I did for about a year but I soon discovered that that was not for me. So, I made a couple of bold choices. The first was to get into media and the other was to tailor-make my own education.

It was during this process that I discovered that I could learn basically anything and be competitive at it if I did enough research, committed to it and practiced. The best thing about all this was that location and money didn’t have to be an issue anymore.

In this post I want to share with you the 3 steps I used to get to forge my own path (a process I still engage in today). I hope they’ll help you come a little closer to doing what you want to do.

1: Research

I always find myself shortchanged when I visit a Pakistani mans shop, buy a product and then find out that I could get the same thing elsewhere, for cheaper!

This is probably the same with most of life. There are many ways to get to the same place, some more convenient than others.

Doing research before committing to a move helped me a lot. Instead of just giving way to the pressure I took my time to understand who I was, what I really wanted to do and then went on to figure out where I wanted to do it.

If you skip this stage you risk wasting precious resources like money but more especially your time. My advice: make a money move after you’ve done the research.

Google was my best friend during this stage. I searched and searched like a broke man looking for hidden treasure and guess what, I found it.

It is through research that I found all the places I studied at. I still research now, for everything!

Small tip: STAY AWAY FROM WEBMD WHEN YOU ARE SICK!

2: Commit

After you have done the research and have decided how you want to go forward, you want to do just that- go forward. Commit to a course, a program, an internship or whatever it is and just go in.

It will take time. It will be frustrating at times but remember you have a goal. Unlike in traditional schooling, when you are doing things on your own you have to be your own motivator. You have to be disciplined enough to study when you need to and do the work you need to do when it is needed.

This wasn’t always easy for me, especially when I was doing film school, but I endured.

Don’t stop researching during this phase. Keep digging for more knowledge to beef up what you’ve been taught and set yourself apart from the crowd. Keep seeking for solutions to your problems.

You’ll become a Sherlock Holmes in no time.

3: Practice

Practice does make perfect or at least it makes you better.

Reading and studying is not enough. You want to apply that knowledge. Code every day. Draw every day. Create digital campaigns every day. Design rooms every day.

This is easier said than done but the more disciplined and consistent you are to your practice the better you’ll get.
I personally haven’t been as faithful as I’d like towards this. I know I could’ve been farther than I am now. I have let a lot of fear and procrastination get in the way. But even as I write this, I am making a commitment to be better.

Well, that is all for now. I hope these three steps helped you. I am not the greatest example of success for sure, but I have learnt many things in my life journey that I am pretty sure will help you too. You take these lessons and do better than I have.

In my next post I will share some of the platforms I used to get my education and some I still use today to upskill.