Upskilling in IT will give you a fatter wallet and better job security. There’s no better feeling than knowing you can get another job to support your family if you need to.
The problem with upskilling though is that it takes time. Time is something that you lose quickly if you have a job. It leaves 10x faster if you have a family.
You need to reclaim it.
So today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:
The “1 x 5” Study Plan and why it’s enough
How to leverage your driving & chore times by doing something you’re probably already doing anyways
Why you should ask your boss this stupid easy question
The 1x5 Study Plan
This plan builds on one simple principle.
Consistency.
You need to find 1 hour a day for 5 days a week. This is how you should start regardless of how much time you have. The goal with this is to build a habit of consistency.
In a month you will have racked up at least 20 hours of study time. This is enough to learn new skills, complete projects, and become a new person. Look back at the end of every month and be amazed at how much you learned.
One hour a day for 5 days a week is something even the busiest people can do.
Wake up an hour earlier.
Stay up an hour later.
Sacrifice time you would normally spend watching TV or gaming.
What I do is I spend an hour between 7PM and 8PM. That gives me time to cook after I get off work and deal with stuff around the house. Do what makes sense for you.
This time is sacred. Do NOT let anyone ruin it. Don’t let anything encroach on this time. This 1-hour session is meant just for upskilling yourself. Remove all other distractions.
To get the most out of this session you need to plan out goals. I spend time during lunch to do this. Here are examples of goals you can set:
“I will watch 1 hour of videos for certification prep and take notes.”
“I will spend 1 hour working on my Ansible project.”
“I will use my 1 hour to take a practice test and review answers.”
Notice that none of the goals are complicated. Keep it simple stupid.
Doing this will save the 10 minutes of your study session that you would spend sitting around trying to figure out what to do. Efficiency baby.
Leverage “Wasted” Time
I call things like driving and doing chores “wasted” time. Perhaps the time isn’t truly wasted but it feels like it. The time you spend doing these activities would be better spent making your life better.
We might as well make the most of the time. Don’t you agree?
An easy way to do this is by building your own podcast.
Now wait!
I don’t mean build a podcast studio, bring on guests, and interview them.
What I mean is to take educational resources and turn them into an audio library. The first thing that likely popped into your head is audio books. These are a great option, but I want to touch on something else.
There’s tons of great YouTube videos and playlists that teach topics you’re trying to learn. These videos are free compared to audio books and contain just as much info.
Now what you do is you take the link to these videos and make your way to a YouTube to MP3 site. Convert those bad boys to MP3s and load them up on your phone. Spend one of your 1 x 5 sessions converting 20 hours worth of video to audio.
Congrats. You have unlocked constant content that you can access whenever you want.
Driving in your car? Flip on the YouTube MP3s.
Cooking for the fam? Flip on the MP3s.
Exercising at the gym? You guess it. Flip on the MP3s.
I bet you were already listening to music or podcasts anyway. Just change the content your listening to.
Ask Your Boss This!
Go up to your boss.
Look them right in the eye.
And say, “I’m studying X because I want to better myself in my role. Can I have 1 hour of study time a day during the week for career education?”
Then go silent and wait for the answer. Now two things will happen:
Worst Case: They say no :(. At least you tried and didn’t lose anything.
Best Case: They say yes…Bam! You unlocked 5 extra hours a week for upskilling.
Maybe those 5 hours become the hours for your 1 x 5 study plan.
I love low risk, high return things like this.
Now here is what you do next…
Show that you are leveraging that time effectively. Get a certification or apply new skills on the job. Make sure your boss notices.
Then hit them with another low risk, high return question:
“Over the last few months I’ve learned X and it’s helped me do X, Y, and Z. Can I have raise?”
Let’s look at the worst case and best case scenario again.
Worst case: They say no :(
Best case: More money babyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Obviously don’t do this every 3 months. Then it quickly becomes a high risk question. Ask strategically.
The beauty of studying regularly is you’ll be adding new skills to the arsenal. Even if your boss says no to both questions you still have the upper hand. How you ask?
You’ll just go get another job that pays more! Simple as that.
If You Made It This Far…
Here are the 2 key takeaways I want you to get from this:
Study consistently, but — do not make it your entire life. I like to preach consistency and “the grind” but it means nothing if you are hating life. Make sure you are leaving time for your family and other things you enjoy. That’s why you start with 1 hour a day and go from there.
Look for wasted time — There is so much wasted time in our every day life. Look for opportunities to take that time back. Take it a step further and look for low risk and high reward activities to win your time back. When you consciously think about how you spend your time you’ll find more opportunities.
What are your favorite ways to reclaim your time? I’d love to hear what others do. Reply to this email and let me know.
THE CACHE
CompTIA acquires TestOut. This is an incredible move by CompTIA. TestOut is known for having great labs and is slowly growing popularity for their own certification exams. I wonder if CompTIA will keep TestOut’s certs around…
BowTiedCyber over on Twitter dropped a bomb of a thread on EVERYTHING you need to start an $80k/y Cybersecurity Career in 90 days using free resources. I used many of those resources to get to where I am today. Check it out here.
This week I came across Paperless-ngx. This open source tool works with a scanner to transform physical documents into a searchable online archive. I’m planning to add this to my home lab. See ya later badly organized file holder.
TECH JOKE OF THE WEEK
What does a networking seal say?
Arp! Arp! Arp!
That’s it for this one. Focus on taking back your own time this week. I’ll see you again next Thursday!