4 Stages of learning a hobby, from beginner to expert

It seems that whenever learning something new, such as with a hobby, that you do so in a few different stages.  Of course, some of these can be done in a short amount of time, some can take years in going through each stage or from repeating the process with different aspects of the hobby.

1. Becoming aware

Maybe not exactly monkey see, monkey do but you need to initially find out about it somehow.  This could be first hearing about it over a conversation, seeing it on tv or in a movie, or reading about in a book.   If the hobby is location specific, being at that location you could say increases your awareness but is probably getting closer to what’s next, learning a bit more about it.

2. Learning more

After you become aware of it, if you’re still interested you learn more.  This could be joining a club, league or other appropriate group, reading more books about it, talking with others, researching on the web, finding locations if needed, signing up for a workshop and so on.  Eventually you get to a point where you feel like you’ve learned all there is, or at least what you can handle at the time and you’re ready to put it to the test and do something.

3. Trying and practice

Whether jumping in with both feet or baby steps, usually the best way to really learn something is by doing it, and usually failing horribly in the process, at least at first.   But you eventually learn, move on the next step and fail again with the process repeated for however simple or complex the aspects of your hobby are.  Sooner or later you figure out most of it, at least you feel the majority of the learning curve is gone and you’d like to do more, such as getting feedback.

4. Sharing with others

Either for simply having a group doing the same hobby, the more the merrier or even more so where you’re teaching others that are first starting out.  While this may seem ridiculous for someone thinking you’ll be sharing with others and teaching after what you feel like is learning so little, relatively you’ve probably learned a lot more than you realize.  You’ve already walked the steps others are still wondering about and if you feel like you’ve plateaued, you can help them to catch up and go to the next step together if appropriate.  This could be for a larger project or activity, such as project needing multiple people doing different things or going on a trip, sharing travel and costs with others interested.

Since this is the Odysen blog, here’s how it would apply with using an Odysen network.

  • Stage 1, Awareness: If others on your network are involved with a hobby, maybe they occasionally share part of it, such as photos from a trip they went on.
  • Stage 2, Learning: Use your network to learn more about your hobby.  Create a folder just for the hobby and add relevant websites, notes of instructions or directions, blogs from others doing it, store PDFs or other files in documents and schedule relevant events.
  • Stage 3, Trying and Practice: While this can be with others, some hobbies such as learning a musical instrument can be better done solo for awhile.  Learning how to play different chords, failing and trying some more.  You can use your network to add relevant actions that need to be done, adding a note of a new idea or schedule times to practice in your events schedule.
  • Stage 4, Sharing: After you feel that while you’re not quite an expert but you have made some progress, you can use your network to share it with others.   This could be for musicians uploading a new music recording, a painter uploading photos of their new painters, writers uploading files of their new stories or adding the story to a note.  Others can give feedback from adding a comment.

Go here to learn more about using with a hobby or get started with the free Basic plan.

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