All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our course, BC 106 on Interpreting Scripture. Welcome to everybody who's in the class. Let's pray and we'll get started. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this time to come and learn, study, and be equipped to write your Word, to rightly handle your Word. Father, we pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We pray for the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, to illuminate our hearts and minds, to teach us, to help us understand and God to write these things upon the tables of our hearts, so that we might live by them. And even as we serve people, maybe do it well. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome. We have been looking at various guidelines or instructions on how we must correctly interpret Scripture. Last week we spent time talking about grammar, about looking at the meaning of the word or the meanings of the words and then interpreting it in the correct context. So we went through some examples on correctly interpreting words, understanding the meaning, and then looking at how to correctly interpret them. And some of the things, just quickly to review, some of the things we said is that sometimes in the Hebrew or in the Greek a word could have multiple meanings. So you will have to choose the right meaning that's in that context. And also, sometimes the writer could have used it in more than one way. So you try to bring all the understanding of that word into the explanation of the text so that we can get a good understanding of the text. We looked at some examples. For instance, the word pneuma is in the Greek. It simply means wind, air. But that word pneuma is used to talk about the Holy Spirit, talk about the human spirit. It's also used to talk about evil spirit. Anything, spirit is the Greek word pneuma. So depending on the context, you know, okay, this is talking about the Holy Spirit. It's talking about the human spirit, or it's talking about evil spirit pneuma. And then there are times like we said from Galatians chapter 5 where it may be a little, it may not be very obvious, very clear, whether he's referring to the Holy Spirit or to the human spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, goodness, temperance, faith. We said that. And we know in the context he's talking about flesh versus spirit, Holy Spirit. But we also know that it is we who bear the fruit. So when he says the fruit of the Spirit, which spirit is he specifically talking about?  And it is left open, meaning both ways it could be right. If you say it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, yeah, it is what the Holy Spirit produces in us. If you say it is the fruit of the human spirit, it is true. That is also true, because it is we who bear the fruit. So in both ways it's fine. And so the way I would approach it is to embrace both explanations, because both are correct. So it's the Holy Spirit who produces that fruit through us, but we are the ones who will bear that fruit. So this we need to understand. Like that there are other words that we will need to study and correctly interpret. Today we're going to go forward. A few other things we'll see how much ground we cover. I'm going to go ahead and share the notes so that we can all see it. Today we'll go to lesson number seven, which is we're going to talk about figures of speech. Figures of speech. That means it's a phrase or it's a part of a sentence that is usually a comparison. We say in English a simile or a comparison, where the comparison is not literal, but it's expressing or conveying a meaning. So for instance, in English there are many, many figures of speech we use. We say, for example, it's raining cats and dogs. Somebody say, hey, it's raining hard, it's raining cats and dogs. That doesn't mean cats and dogs are literally falling from the sky. I start what we're literally meaning. What we're saying is very heavy. It's just a phrase we use in English. It's for whatever reason. I don't know when it started, but it's been something people use. It's raining cats and dogs.  It doesn't mean you literally have pain in the neck. But what we are saying is that person is causing so much problem.  It's a phrase. It's not literal. So like that, there are so many examples. Now in the Bible also there are such phrases because in every language, in every language, there are such phrases. And so if you know the language, you know that when the person is using a phrase like this, it's a figure of speech, then you know it's not literal. They're not meaning it literally. They're just using a figure of speech and you know what they actually mean. It's not the literal phrase, but you know what they actually are saying. So that again, we have to be very careful when we study the Word of God. And there are many such figures of speech and especially when it comes to prophetic scriptures, we will look at that separately where there are a lot of images, figures, and God uses that kind. He uses pictures. He uses figures to speak to us. So especially when it comes to prophetic text, you'll find a lot of figures. And then we have to interpret those correctly. We will come to that separately. But here I'm talking about general scripture. So how do we know if an expression is figurative or literal? How do we know it? Well, first you see if the literal makes sense. If the literal does not make sense, then you know it's a figure of speech. So for example, if somebody says it's raining cats and dogs, then what is a literal? Literal means cats and dogs are falling from the sky. Now that doesn't make sense. So then you know that is a figure of speech. It's not a literal. Because the literal is not, cannot be real, cannot be factual. So it's a figure of speech. So simple examples. Or secondly, the figurative is intended if the literal would involve an impossibility. It's impossible for it, the literal thing. So when John points to Jesus and says, behold, the Lamb of God, that doesn't mean Jesus was walking like a lamb. No, Jesus was a human, God who became man. But he was pointing to the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and said, he is the Lamb of God. Now definitely that's figurative. He's saying this one is the Lamb of God. Doesn't mean he's a literal lamb. That's an impossibility. He's a man. He's human walking as a man. But he is going to do or he's going to fulfill what the Lamb of God would fulfill. So it's figurative. Or when God tells Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1.18 says, Jeremiah, I have made you an iron pillar and a brass wall. It's figure of speech. It doesn't mean Jeremiah is like a pillar.  No, what God is saying is I have made you so strong. Nobody can push you down. I made you an iron pillar. I made you like a solid brass wall. Nobody can push you down. Or you might see in Isaiah 55 it says, the trees of the field will clap their hands. So God is telling his people, you will go out with joy. You will be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into singing. And the trees of the field will clap their hands. That is not literal. It is figurative. Meaning God is going to bring you out with such great, there will be joy rejoicing everywhere. The mountains will clap their hands. The trees of the field will clap their hands. The mountains will sing for joy. It's figurative. So it's not literal. It's God is conveying a meaning. So the literal is not factual. It would be absurd. Or number four, we understand that a figurative sense, if the literal would demand some strange action. For example, Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh, and this is in John 6, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me.  So he's got thousands of people listening to him and tells him, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. What is he saying?  Or it won't be enough for the thousands of people anyway. And he's not talking about something literal. That would be terrible. But what he's talking about, he explains it later.  Those are the things he's actually meaning. You become so much a part of him. So the literal would be just, it's not normal. Or sometimes you'll find in Scripture, and also this is also true about prophetic scripture, that a figurative expression is used, but then the context will tell you what the literal meaning is. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 4, it talks about those who fall asleep, then in that same passage, it talks about those who have died in Christ. Those who fall asleep, God will bring with him. Now some people, they've taken that phrase, fallen asleep, and they've made a doctrine out of it. It's like, oh, when you die, it's like sleeping. Your body is there, your spirit is there, but that's wrong. Because you look in the rest of Scripture, when you die, if a believer dies, his spirit goes to be with Jesus. He doesn't sleep there.  Why? Because I'm going to go be with Jesus. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He's not sleeping somewhere here in the ground. Spirit is not sleeping. The spirit goes to be with Jesus. Very clear. But some people will take the figurative phrase used in 1 Thessalonians 4, and they come up with this doctrine of when a person dies, the spirit is sleeping somewhere in the ground. Crazy. Because they're not interpreting it correctly. That's a figurative phrase. In the context, it's very clear that their spirit has gone, a believer's spirit has gone up to be with the Lord, and the spirit is coming with the Lord. And they will receive glorified bodies, and you have to look at other passages of Scripture. You're understanding this? Figure of speech or simile or a comparison. That's also there in Scripture text. So how do we interpret these things? First of all, recognize that there is a figure of speech being used. So many New Testament examples, some more examples. 2 Timothy 2, 3 and 6. Paul talks about the Christian as being a soldier. So if you say, I am a soldier, I'm carrying a gun. Every believer must carry a gun. Keep on going and say it. Then that is applying a figure incorrectly. Paul never intended for believers to go around with arms, whatever the gun or knife or whatever. Somebody say, why are you carrying a gun? Paul said, I am a soldier. Finish. That's not what he meant. He's using a figure. He's using an example.  You have to be disciplined and committed like that. Or athlete or farmer. So these are pictures, figures he's using for a Christian, for a believer. So it's not literal. So you recognize, hey, okay. And our example, Matthew 7, 6. Jesus said, do not give dogs. What a sacred. Don't throw pearls before pigs. Nobody's going to literally go here, take my chain pig. Let me put it around you. Nobody's going to do that in the right mind. Nobody will do it. So he's not talking about something literal. He's using that as a figure, example. Just like nobody will go and throw their necklace or give their costly pearl necklace to a pig. So don't give your spiritual things which are very precious. Don't throw it or don't put it in front of people who will have no value for it. Don't waste your time doing that. So understand that there is a figure of speech involved. And then try to, this is actually very simple. We do it automatically in our minds. Number two, the image and the non-image. That means the image, what is the picture? And who is it? Who is that being applied to? Example, Lamb is the image. Jesus is the non-image. The picture of the Lamb is being applied to Jesus. So image, non-image. So the believer, the soldier is the image. The believer is a non-image. So the picture of a soldier is applied to a believer. So image, non-image. So understand that and so on. So example in John 2.19, Jesus has destroyed this temple and I will raise it up in three days. So people didn't understand it. When Jesus said, destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days. They said, what are you saying? This temple took more than 40 years to build. You are saying you destroyed some, three days you built it. But then he was talking about the temple of his body. He was not talking about the physical temple.  So they didn't understand that. But here temple is the image. His body is the non-image. He is using that actually to refer to his body himself. So very important number three is understand what is the point of comparison. What is the comparison? So in Psalm 1, we are using that example here.  His leaf will not wither. Whatever he does will prosper.  Comparison, figure of speech. So what is God trying to convey through that picture? In this particular case, he's trying to say that a person who meditates in his word, he will be prosperous, he'll be flourishing, he'll be well watered, like that tree, fruitful, like that tree. So he's giving a picture of fruitfulness, of prosperity, of flourishing. He's saying that's the life of a person who meditates in his word. So that's the point that we must bring across from the image to the non-image. Sean? So can we take Revelation 3rd chapter verse 15 to 16 as an example where he talks about how you should not be either hot or cold. You should be the hot or cold and not look warm. I'll spit you out. Can you take that as an example for figure of speech? Yeah, that's it. So there are many, many such examples where you find many in the Bible. So many comparisons. So it's not literal. It's not like Jesus is vomiting all of us. It's a figure of speech. So I will vomit you out. Basically saying I just can't not tolerate such things. So that's the point of comparison. So many, many such comparisons. Number four, do not assume that a figure always means the same thing. Right? So the same figure can mean different things in different situations. Example, we know the lion. In one case, the lion talking about authority, boneless, dominion used for Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah. In another case, the lion talking about stealths, how he surprises his attacks is used for the devil. He's like a roaring lion. So the points of comparison are different. The same image is used. But the points are different. And I think he also told us that we should be cunning like a snake. In certain, when he talks about how we should be as believers, we should be gentle as a dove and we should be cunning as a snake. So yeah, in that context, it's telling that you should have that characteristic of a snake. Whereas in different contexts, you say that, you know, eat all Satan as you snake. Right. Yeah. So snake, right? It's used for different things, right? So a snake can be used for a believer in a good sense, be wise as servants. A snake can be used to talk about the devil. The snake in the Bible is also used to talk about evil men. You know, their tongue is like a snake and sounds it. So the context, the same image is used for three different things, right? Devils, believers being wise, evil men doing their cunning works, right? So different things like that. So yeah, so the same figure, point number four, the same figure could mean different things in different places. Number five, number five, very important. Place limits on the figure, on what points you transfer from the figure to from the image to the non-image. Example, Jesus lamb of God, oh lamb has four feet. So Jesus, something you said, lamb has wool. Jesus has wool or something. So then what happens is we are transferring points from the image to the non-image, which is not intended. Basically when John says he's a lamb of God, meaning he's going to be like the lamb in the Old Testament. We offer as a sin offering, as offering for sin, the spotless lamb of God. Perfect lamb offered as a sin offering. But we should not transfer other points of comparison, like four legs, wool, tail, full confusion, any full confusion, right? And there are many examples here that I just mentioned a couple. But Jesus said, I will come like a thief. I will come like a thief. Now, of course, what's the point of comparison? He'll come unannounced. So thief never says, hey, tonight I'm coming to your house, 10 o'clock I'm coming to steal something. He never says that. He'll come unannounced when we least expect. That's the point of comparison. So when the Bible says the Lord will come like a thief in the nights, the point of comparison is he's coming unannounced.   Wrong. That image is used for the devil.  But when the Bible says that the Lord will come like a thief in the night, the point is he's coming unannounced when we don't expect. But we should not extend that image for other things. Oh, he will come suddenly to scare you and he will steal from you. Don't do all that. So there's so many examples. In Job 9, for instance, the Bible talks about the pillars of the earth tremble. Of course, there are no pillars. The earth is round. It's floating in space. It's not resting on pillars. So there you have to say, okay, that's just a figure of speech. It's not meant literally. It just means the foundation, the very core of the earth and so on. Let me just see if there are any questions from students who are online. All right. Any questions? All right. Jack. Jack in. I pronounce the name correctly. As a question, as we're learning about figure of speech, so will it help when we refer our dictionary and check the true actual meaning? Well, fortified city iron pillar and bronze wall to a building or nation to correlate, bring to imagine to what depth the Jeremiah's call from God was. Okay. Interesting question. So what would help years to look at the figure of speech? First of all, you start with the original context. So I'll start with the Hebrew or the Greek and start with what would this mean in that given context, right? So if you look at that, so because remember it was written in that language and that culture and in that context. So when we want to look at the background, go back to the Hebrew or go back to the Greek and say, for example, when we say Jesus lamb of God, generally, if you go to the English dictionary, the English dictionary might say lamb or Mary had little lamb or it may talk about, you know, innocence and childishness or whatever. But the correct understanding of that figure comes only from the biblical context or lamb of God. What is the context for that? You go back into the Old Testament or the Old Testament, you know, they had to bring a sin offering, right? So that gives us a more accurate interpretation of that figure as opposed to going to an English dictionary. So that would be my answer. Stay, you know, there's nothing wrong in using an English dictionary, of course, use it for its purpose. But in interpreting biblical figures, it's always good to stay within the biblical context and the biblical context, the language and the culture in which it was written, which would be Hebrew, Greek and so on. Okay, but very good question. Any other questions from those online? Any questions from those in person? Let me see. What is it, Anand? Sorry. So, okay. So the question here is, do not give what is holy to dogs. Yeah. So don't throw, like, don't give, so the context here is talking about spiritual things. So don't give spiritual things to those who will not value it. Yeah. Yeah. So that's basically like, so if somebody's not interested in listening, don't go and force it on them, you know, they won't value it. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to reach them. You pray for them, you share, but then you understand. There's no point in, you know, example, let's practical example. Suppose there's somebody who's not interested. I'm not going to go buy, you know, huge Bible and say, hey, you have to read it. They won't value it. They might just throw it off. So we might feel, oh, I've done a big thing, but they may just discard it. They may not value it. Right. So that's, you can apply it practically like that. Yeah, so. So same about the same verse.  Like which point you feel that way? Yeah. So when do we judge it? So suppose you're reaching out to some somebody and they reject, they push back. Right. So then you know, they're not open yet. So what we have to do is to pray for their heart to be opened. So when they're pushing back, when they're saying, don't talk to me, that's not the time to go and give them 10 trucks. That's like you're throwing pearls before science. That's the time to just go and pray for them. And that's the time to show, demonstrate through your life. You know, they can never prevent your life from speaking. They may reject the trucks. They may reject the Bible, but they can never prevent your life from speaking to them. Right. So if somebody says, hey, don't talk to me about it. I'm not interested. That's the time to realize, you know, I can pray for them.  They'll always see my life. You know, they may not read a track or a Bible or a book that I give, but they're always seeing my life. So then at some point later when their heart is open, when they are receptive, then that's the time you can, you know, talk to them or give them something that they're willing to receive. Okay. So we should be sensitive and be respectful of people. Fine. So that was on figures of speech. Okay. Let's, so that's one. Let me close this. Figure of speech. Yeah. Question. Okay. Sorry. Say that again. Proverbs. Proverbs 26 and verse number four. Point five. Proverbs 26, four and five. It says, do not answer a fool according to his folly. Let's, let's you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly. Let's he be wise in his own eyes. So here's, here's a place. Here's an example where it's basically like no matter what you tell a fool. It's not going to matter. Right.  You're coming down to his level. If you speak, you know, something that's really wise, then what's going to happen?  In other words, a fool never understands. He never gets it. So don't waste your time.  You speak like a wise man, you're elevating him. He feels great. In other words, don't waste your time. He's not going to get it. Just leave him alone. That's the point. Got it? Sir, like most, most of the, some new testament like parables and all that are easy to interpret, but when it comes to like Old Testament, when it comes to like Isaiah or Ecclesiastes, like for example, in Ecclesiastes 4th chapter verse 4 to 6, he says that, I've also learned why people work so hard to succeed is because they envy their neighbors, but it is useless is like chasing the wind. They say that a man would be a fool to fold his hands and let himself starve to death. Perhaps so, but it is better to have only a little with peace of mind than to be busy all the time with both hands trying to catch the wind. So how do you interpret something like this? Which verses are you looking at? At last, his 4th chapter was 4 to 6. Okay. So, well, first is we need to understand the book of Ecclesiastes, right? That means this was written by King Solomon when he was in his bad state. So King Solomon began when he was very wise. That was the book of Proverbs. So a lot of wisdom there. Then he went into a decline, spiritual, moral decline. He went into a very bad state. So this book of Ecclesiastes is written during that time. So that's why he makes certain statements, which are an expression of a person in a bad state. He says vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Now that is not a true statement, right? Meaning he's saying everything is vain. Now everything is not vain because what God created is goods. You understand that? So when we read the book of Ecclesiastes, we have to understand the context who is writing. Then he was writing it and then interpret that in the rest of the light of Scripture. So the basic rule which we learned in the very beginning, every passage of Scripture has to be interpreted in the light of the rest of Scripture. So whatever you read in Ecclesiastes has to be interpreted in the light of the rest of Scripture, not independently. Like you don't take four verses and say, hey, what is the meaning of it? But this meaning has to be interpreted in the rest of the verse. So that's how we would handle the book of Ecclesiastes. So not only these verses, but the whole book, understanding that Solomon was writing and it's really an expression of what had happened in his life. So there's a reason why books like the book of Ecclesiastes, the song of Solomon is there in Scripture, revealing certain things to us and how God works even in those situations. Okay. Yes. Sorry. Yeah. So the word of God in the Bible, right? The word is compared to many things, fire, hammer, honey, rock, bread, water. So there are all these images of the words. So you follow the rules we just learned. Right. So when it's like bread, what is the point of comparison? What would it be? Yeah, it satisfies our hunger. Milk. The word of God is like milk. What are the points? You know, come point, so we have to think logically. There's one point of comparison. Fire, it burns char. It ignites, depending on the context. In this particular case, Jeremiah, he's talking about God's prophetic word was burning inside him. He couldn't contain it. He had to speak it. In another place, fire would be, it burns up the chaff. In Jeremiah again, in Jeremiah 23, God says, my word is like fire. It burns up the chaff. My word is like hammer. It breaks what's hard. Right. So all these are figures, images. And we have to logically bring out the point of comparison. So Holy Spirit, so many symbols. He's like rain. He's like water. He's like fire. He's like a dove. All these are figures for the Holy Spirit. Now you have to bring out the point of comparison. Is it okay to use pictures? Yeah. So for example, in many logos, they'll see a picture of a dove. Then we all understand dove represents Holy Spirit. Or they'll see fire. Or you'll see, of course, you see a cross. You see a Bible. These are just a picture communicates something. So there's nothing wrong in using those symbols or those pictures. They're communicating something. It's perfectly fine. Yeah. But usually nobody uses hammer. But hammer means the word goes like a hammer or sword. Some people use sword. God's word is like a sword. Yeah. So it's perfectly fine to use those. Okay. Let's move forward. Now we're going to talk about types and shadows. So chapter eight. Let me just, sorry, share my, share my. So type and shadow. Let me just introduce this. We'll go for a break and come back. Now imagine you're seeing the shadow of a tree. Okay. Of course you can see some shadows here. You can see the shadow of a desk and a chair. But imagine you're seeing the shadow of a tree. Now, when you see the shadow of a tree, often you recognize what that shadow represents. That means there is a tree.  You can recognize what the literal is through this by looking at the shadow. But there are limitations in the shadow by looking at the shadow. Can you tell what color leaves are on the tree? No. By looking at the shadow, we may not be all, we may not always be able to tell details. How many branches? How many leaves? What color? What color the flowers are? What color the fruit is? Maybe you can say if there was fruit hanging and you see round things or whatever you can, maybe you can say a little bit about what fruit, what kind of fruit is on the tree. But otherwise you won't know. So there are limitations with the shadow. The shadow has resemblance but it doesn't give all the details. And the shadow is pointing to the literal. And then when you come to the tree, then you can see so much more. Oh, the tree is actually so big. The tree has green leaves, so many branches, fruit, flowers, this, that.  Got it. So in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, there are many what we refer to as type or shadow or prefigures. So when somebody says type, shadow or prefigure, it's pointing to something, it's pointing to the literal. So when you come into the New Testament, that's where you see the reality, you see the fulfillment, you see the literal. Type and shadow. Example. So let's go into the details. Type, or if you say the shadow or the prefigure, the prefiguring. It has some resemblance like we saw. It has some similarity. It's pointing to something. It has historical reality. That means those things actually happens or were there, that person was there or that thing happened, that event happened. It's a prefiguring. It is showing ahead of time something. It uses that to show point to something else of the literal that was to come. There is also a heightening, meaning like we said, heightening means details. Details come in the literal, in the actual person or the literal, but the literal has much more details than the shadow. OK. Types have divine design. That means God said. It's not something you and I pick up. So I can't go and say David is a type of Christ. If I say that, it's wrong because it's not mentioned. But when God says something, when God said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the will, when Jesus himself said, as Moses lives up the serpent in the wilderness, so will the Son of man. The Lord is pointing to something in Scripture. That's a true type. So for a type, it has to be divine. This means it has to be mentioned in the Bible. You and I cannot go and simply say this is a type. You understand it? So the New Testament must say that represents this. Example, Passover lamb. Why do we say the Passover lamb represents Jesus? Because the New Testament explicitly says, 1 Corinthians 5, Christ of a Passover is sacrificed for us. So that is a divine design. The Scripture is pointing to it. So some people say David represents Jesus. Goliath represents Satan. Now that is wrong. That's not the way to preach and teach the Word of God. Because that is not mentioned in the Bible. Now nobody is going to stone you for saying that. People would clap and say, Hallelujah. But that is not the correct way to preach and teach the Word of God. Because that is not given in Scripture. There's coming up another lesson. It's coming up on allegorizing. That means we are assigning things, meaning to things that God never intended. That's allegorizing and we shouldn't do it. We'll come to that chapter later. But the point I want to point out is a type and a shadow is stated in Scripture. Because it's stated in Scripture, we say it. Example, we can say Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Why? Because the writer of Hebrews states it. So we're not simply making it up. If the writer of Hebrews never said that, and if it was not stated, we simply came and said, Melchizedek is a type of Christ, then that would be wrong. Because it's not stated. If it was not stated, but because it is stated, we can say Melchizedek is a type of Christ. You're getting it? Or we can say the rock that Moses struck is a type of Christ. Why? Because it's stated in 1 Corinthians 10. That rock is Christ. It's stated. So that the rock now becomes a type, a type of Christ. You're understanding? So we see many like this. I'm just giving you a few. But point number five, divine design, meaning it has been explicitly stated in Design number six, combine the two. It's designated by God. We will look at some examples. So there are three things I want us to keep in mind. I'll mention this. We'll go for a break. There are types, illustrations, and there is allegorizing. Allegorizing is something you should not do. But we're mentioning it here as an example of what we should not do. Let's go for a break. We'll come back and I'll explain this further. Let's go for a break. Thank you.


Dean no further introductions. It's there for a time for members statements to members from Leeds Granville. Thanks speaker Saturday I attended the North Granville rural summit which put the spotlight on eastern Ontario Entrepreneurs and innovators. It was great to spend time with people creating jobs and bringing investment in our rural communities I wish every Ontarian living in an urban center could have been in Kempville with me on Saturday What an incredible opportunity for them to understand that rural Ontario is more than just the blur They see from the car window as they travel from one city to the next they could see how agribusinesses are succeeding despite challenges like increasing red tape local infrastructure needs high energy prices and access to skilled workers their Perseverance and determination is incredible and I'm thankful that they had the opportunity to share their stories So we could learn more on how we can better support them The summit was the dream of North Granville councillor Jim Bertram a true champion of rural Ontario Jim recognized our rural communities and the businesses sustaining them are too often Take it for granted and he wanted to do something positive to change that Unfortunately speaker Jim is battling an illness and he couldn't be there on Saturday and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family We wish him speedy recovery speaker. We all know farmers feed cities But with the right support from a government that appreciates them our farmers and rural entrepreneurs can help make Ontario grow I want to thank Jim for his vision. I hope that this summit becomes an annual event in North Granville Thank you for giving me this Thank you Windsor to come see Speaker, let me tell you a little about a good friend of mine. His name is Ron Jones. He's 73 years old and Next month. He'll be graduating with a BA and Pauley Psi from the University of Windsor To appreciate Ron's success We have to go back to his high school years in the 60s at low-tech a football star Ron was asked what he was going to do when he graduated. He said become a city firefighter My guidance counselor Basically told him to the kid about it because he was a black kid and a nobody He'd never be hired as a city firefighter So he could set his sights a little lower perhaps and becoming a garbage collector for the city of Windsor Well being told he couldn't do something was all the motivation. He needed Ron Jones became the second black firefighter in the city of Windsor He served for 35 years retired as a district chief along the way He spent 12 years as a public school board trustee and after retiring from the fire service another 12 years as a city counselor He's battled prostate cancer and now he's all set to graduate with a university degree Not bad for someone who has fought racism most of his life was Howard McCurdy's first campaign manager Got to rub shoulders with icons such as Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali Speaker Ron Jones still isn't ready to set back and count his blessings He's already enrolled at an accelerated paralegal program at St. Clair College in the fall So Ron buddy, you never failed to amaze me. Here's a salute from Queens Park all the best my friend and God bless Thank you Thank You speaker Speaker April is cancer awareness month spring is the season of renewal and hope an ideal time to reflect on the progress That's been made in the prevention and the treatment of cancer in the 1940s three out of four Canadians with cancer died Within five years of diagnosis Today that statistic has flipped five years after diagnosis 60% of Canadians with cancer are still alive This is incredible progress yet. There is still a large amount of work ahead on average 24 people are diagnosed with cancer every hour in Canada One out of every two Canadians can expect to have a personal battle with cancer during their lifetime And one out of every four Canadians will ultimately die because of cancer Cancer does not discriminate it affects people of all ages and from all walks of life It is not one disease, but many and can affect every part of a body Because of its complexity there will never be a single cure for cancer. That is why research is so important Unfortunately, according to the Canadian Cancer Society 60% of the high priority research projects went unfunded in 2016 as a cancer survivor I encourage everybody to donate to life-saving research To wear your daffodil pins with pride and to work towards a day when people in Ontario and people around the world No longer have to fear cancer. Thank you I lost a friend this week while I considered Bill Ray a friend I didn't socialize with them unless you included the hundreds of community events we attended over the years Bill taking a picture or two Reporting Caledon news for the Caledon citizen We would often compare our schedule for the day Bill joking about how we'd never go north of nine because it was outside of Caledon Bill would probably be called a workaholic, but I'm pretty sure he was doing exactly what he wanted to do Bill was a person interested in and engaged with all things Caledon the last time Bill interviewed me He was supposed to be on vacation and yet he made the call did the interview Wrote and submitted the article all on vacation Always a professional and always willing to put in the hours to make sure the story was accurate I don't know what Bill's political affiliations were and frankly I didn't care I didn't care because he never inserted his opinions into the articles He wrote for Bill. It was about making sure the readers were given the unbiased information They needed to make their own choices We were lucky that Bill chose Caledon as the place to write our stories Share our passions and track our history and for that we have beth to thank it was beth who captured Bill's heart I'm sorry. He won't get the time he deserves to spend with the special lady He met and married in Caledon rest in peace Thank you Member Stevens the member from Algoma Manitoulou. Thank you speaker And I want to introduce you to good people of River Valley Park in the Sioux North area Approximately 35 homes is what you'll find there and these families as of May the 1st are being ordered to vacate their homes From by Algoma public health due to the failure of a non-compliant sewage system and public health concerns now That's a fact mr. Speaker Ministry of Environment Climate Change have been working with the owner to reach compliant They have worked on the draft ECA an environmental compliance approval and identified an FA Which is the financial assurance that is needed. However, the park owner has been unsuccessful in securing these funds That's a fact mr. Speaker. Here's another fact. These are homeowners that own their home and they may Look at this as not a big issue for 35 families But this is a huge issues for people that live in my area We and I say we can do a lot better and we should not permit this to happen And we need to step up to making sure that they are not pushed out of their homes I'm happy to hear that the park owner will be meeting with government officials this week I'm also happy to inform the good people of River Valley Park that I will be meeting with the Minister of Municipal Affairs Northern Development and Mines and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on Tuesday of next week to discuss it We have to step up and here's another fact There will be a much higher cost and social cost to removing these people out at our homes for the long run for all of us On this issue these families deserve better from this government these family are in my writing about little Manitoulou And we have to help them Thank you speaker and I rise today to showcase the fantastic girls in grade seven and eight at St. Anthony Catholic School and St. Helens Catholic School for my writing of Davenport who took part in the girls government program through my constituency office Girls government is a non-partisan program run by Equal Voice which helps get young girls interested in politics I'm delighted to share with you the bright young women whose work has made this program successful Haley Furtado, Amber Styles, Marion Asher, Alexis Alexou, Sienna Lory, Dinella Latissia, Noelia Ratana, Alexis DeSalle, Ira Nicole Perez, Kassandra Mann, Faith DeKintel, Melissa Roselle, Mifal DeFresco, Christina Riri, Maria Elena DeCruz as well as their teachers Mrs. Irene Rodriguez, Ms. Fiona McGrath, Ms. Laura Negro and Ms. Elisa Rubello Principal Fatima for Marys and Principal Maria Manuela Sardo in Tunes These girls work closely with her teachers, my staff and myself to learn about politics and select an issue to champion They engaged in lively discussions and debates and voted to address homelessness as their issue As residents the girls see the effects of Toronto's affordable housing crisis all around them They further decided to focus their advocacy on how homelessness specifically and disproportionately affects women and indigenous people in Toronto After much research and discussion these bright girls wrote and sent a letter to Minister Milchin indicating their concerns and ideas on the ways to rectify homelessness in Toronto This is my third year running this program and Mr. Speaker the energy from the girls from St. Anthony and St. Helens Catholic School reminded me of the importance of my role as a female politician in this legislature and the first female MPP for the riding of Davenport Thank you. Thank you. Further Member Stainless, the member from the PMC. Thank you very much, Speaker. I rise today in great sadness as many Canadians have After a weekend where we saw not only Jonathan Pete the toughest young man to ever ever come out of Eastern Ontario die from a very painful disease of EB and then to wake up the next morning to find out that 15 young men tragically were killed as they went to play hockey from Humboldt's Saskatchewan. Speaker as a hockey mother myself I have been often inspired by Jonathan Pete and since Saturday inspired by the generosity and compassion of all Canadians I want to just say that I've never seen our country come together quite like this and I grew up in a small mining town that lost 26 miners and I feel very badly for those who have been left behind and who will struggle particularly in Saskatchewan to rebuild their community but Canadians have really stepped up I noticed that millions of dollars have been raised many hockey teams have either provided a moment of silence or even gone one step further for both Jonathan Pete and for the Humboldt Broncos. On the weekend a picture was drawn by Kerry McGregor of Canada which I think tells the entire story of the tragedy that our country is going through by having the Humboldt players reach out in heaven to Jonathan Pete. We've seen Tom Cochran, Chronicle Herald and many others across the the province here and country reach out to all of those who are affected. I know Speaker tomorrow many schools including my daughter's own will be wearing jerseys and I encourage every school in Ontario to make sure that they wear some type of a jersey with a number on it to support this team and I know this legislature has done a moment of silence and I know probably tomorrow will want to wear their jerseys as well and I just want everyone to know that we're in solidarity and to those who started they put your sticks out for the boys. I think that that is a very telling and meaningful way to provide a tribute and some solace and comfort but again on behalf of the residents of Nipi and Carleton and certainly the hockey family which I belong to my heart and my prayers are with Jonathan Pete's family as well as all of those who are affected by the tragedy in Saskatchewan thank you. Thank you for the member of State and the member from Kingston in the islands. Mr. Speaker I'm thrilled to rise today in supportive fetal alcohol awareness advocacy day at Queens Park. We are joined by many advocates from across the province who have worked tirelessly to make this day a reality. Thank you to everyone who attended our reception earlier and for taking the opportunity to have meetings throughout the day. FASD is an umbrella term used to describe a range of cognitive and developmental disorders that are caused by exposure to alcohol in utero. When a woman becomes pregnant alcohol consumption can pose a significant risk to the fetus and result in fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder and alcohol related birth defects. While FASD has proven difficult to diagnose due to its complexity early prevention is key. It is estimated that one out of every 100 people may have FASD meaning that as many as 130,000 Ontarians may be affected. Recent studies suggest that this number may in fact be larger. Last December my motion to establish September 9th is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder awareness day passed unanimously and I thank all members for their support. Shortly I will be introducing my bill to help support students living with FASD in schools. This bill serves to complement the motion by encouraging boards to establish best practices and foster greater collaboration. There is more work to be done. Today is about learning from those with lived experience, parents, families, friends and organizations, but it is a single step in a movement that's been a result of literally hundreds of individuals and hundreds of hours coming together over decades. Let's keep it going. Merci. Thank you. Thank you. New member statements. The member from Bruce Gray. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. What an honor for me to rise today and recognize the Community Foundation Gray Bruce who have raised $1.8 million in support of local students who are pursuing post-secondary studies, skills upgrades, workplace training, apprenticeships or trades education. On March 23rd I had the pleasure of joining the Chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors, Maureen Solecki, along with Executive Director Stuart Reed, Fund holders Lyle Love and Kim West and Ambassador Stein Furness at Georgian College in Olonsound where they announced the $1.8 million education fund to students competing at the Interior Youth Apprenticeship Program's regional skills competition. The very people who will be able to benefit from this community effort. Community Foundation Gray Bruce has a strong record in supporting a variety of non-profit organizations in our local community since 1994. I think part of their success lies in the fact that Bruce and Gray are very caring communities where people do step up and help out in any way they can. I'm humbled and honored to advise my siblings and I, set up the Gene Walker and Marjorie Moll scholarship fund which now provides bursaries to students studying community health care or nursing. And my friend, Colleague and MPP, MP Soray from Bruce Gray Olonsound Larry Miller did the same when he and his wife set up the Larry and Darlene Miller Agricultural Bursary Fund to support students in agriculture and agri-food studies. All of these funds, scholarships, bursaries and awards are searchable on the Foundation's website at www.payforschoolgraybruce.com. I invite all members to join me in congratulating the Community Foundation Gray Bruce team on reaching the significant fund goal and expressing our gratitude to all caring individuals and families who stepped up to contribute funds to support local students in their chosen education pathway. I wish the Community Foundation Gray Bruce continued support in all of their pursuits. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank all members for their statements. It is therefore now time for our reports by committees. The member from Northumberland, Quinn-


In this video, I'm going to share with you six simple steps for how to get started in UX design and I'm going to tell you how I started my journey until I got a job and the lessons I learned from it so that you can avoid making the same mistakes. So let's get started. If all of these six steps, I guarantee you you will get a job. And how do I know that? Because that's what I did over a longer period of time and it got me a job where I'm working right now. Hi, my name is Amir and I'm a self taught UX designer working at a design agency called Agent Smart. And I wanted to make this video because I wish it existed when I was first starting out. So I didn't study UX design in university, but I love design and technology. And when I found out that there was this thing called UX design, I was immediately hooked. So I made this video to like really condense down the steps to the essentials for you to get started to make sure that you have all you need to go from a beginner to someone who can actually get a job in UX design. As you're watching this video, if you have any questions about any part of what I'm talking about, make sure to let me know in the comments and I'll make sure to get back to you. Also, if you have any tips that I forgot to mention, please make make sure to put them in. It'll be useful to me and anyone else watching this video in the future. By the way, if you're interested in videos like this, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell icon to get notified every time we put out a video. We do videos like this every week. So let's dive into step one, which is deciding whether UX design is for you. So I'm assuming if you're watching this video, you already know a little bit about what UX design is, but you might not know if it's actually the thing for you. You don't know if you're going to enjoy this. And I picked a really useful resource for you to be able to do that. So there's this website called Career Foundry and they offer UX design programs, but they also have this very nice and short email course. It's a six day course.  By the way, everything I mentioned in this video is going to be linked in the description. So you can check it out. You can keep referring back to it as you go through these steps. The other thing you can do to decide whether UX design is for you is to actually talk to someone who has a job that you want to be doing. So in this case, you go and find a UX designer, whether it's a friend or a friend of a friend, just talk to them about what their job is like, what they enjoy about it, what they don't enjoy about it. And that'll give you a much more solid idea of what the day to day job is like and not just the highlights or what's great about it. So that's also a really good thing for you to try. All right. So step two is to take a course to learn the principles. Now this is really important because a lot of people, when they want to learn about UX design, start watching random tutorials here and there and have the feeling that they're making progress. But when you're learning in such a scattershot way, you never have anything concrete that you can say that you've mastered. And that's why it's really important for you to go through a structured curriculum. And I picked out two really good courses for you to try. And I'm going to show them to you right here. So the first one is the introduction to user experience design. This is a course by Coursera. And it's free for you to take and you only need to pay to get the certificate, which is not something that's that important, in my opinion. And this course has gone a ton of really good reviews. And the syllabus is also really good. It's not too long. It's five weeks long. And it gives you all the basics that you need. If you don't know a lot about UX design, it has a really good overview in the beginning. That just takes one hour. And then it takes you through the steps that you need to know, like how do you gather requirements for a design? And then how do you start thinking about alternatives? And then prototyping. And then you final steps to evaluate your design. So this is a really good course to go through. And it's completely free. Another option is from Accenture. And it's called Digital Skills User Experience. This is also a really good course. I just put it as an alternative here because sometimes some people respond to some courses better than others. So you have a choice between these two. But I narrowed it down intentionally so that you don't have to choose between multiple things and spend a lot of time choosing instead of actually learning and doing. So just start with this course, the Coursera one. And if you don't like it, move on to the next one. It's really not that important which one you choose as long as you actually go through it and finish it. And like I said, both of these courses are completely free. But there's also a third option that I want to show you, which is really mostly useful for people in Germany. And it's from Career Foundry. Career Foundry has a really good boot camp, a long boot camp. I think it's around six months or something like that. But it's also quite pricey. But if you're someone who's living in Germany and you're unemployed, if you're making a career change, you can actually get this course for free and we'll have a link in the description for how you can do that if you are someone who's living in Germany and you don't have a job right now. And once you've finished a course, now you're ready to start practicing on your own and start mastering a design tool. Now for this, I also picked out two tools for you. One is Figma and it has a very generous free plan. You can be working on it using all the features completely for free. And it has some collaboration features so that if you're working with someone, you're able to work on the same design file at the same time, kind of like working in a Google Doc. Figma is a great option. This is what we use at agent and smart. We're designing apps pretty much every week. And it's a very, very good tool. Another option is from Adobe. If you already have some Adobe apps, it's called Adobe XD and it also has a generous free plan that you can go with. Figma is based in the browser so no matter which computer you have, like a Mac or a PC or a Linux, it'll work on everything. Same thing for Adobe XD. So these tools are both free and they're available no matter which computer you're using. I'm also going to include a link to a quick tutorial for Figma. This is a short tutorial that will show you all you need to know just to get started. And with the principles that you have from the course, you'll be able to apply them while designing something, an app or a website in Figma. Alright, step number four. Now this is the most important step which is practice. This is where a lot of people actually stop. Most people are happy to do kind of the passive learning, kickback, watch some videos, read some articles. You feel good about yourself but you're not actually learning until you start practicing. The easiest way to get started is to take something that's already out there and redesign it or recreate a design that you like inside something like Figma. Because when you take a good design and you draw out the design pixel by pixel again, you start to like absorb why these decisions were made, what's a good layout, good typography, good spacing. You'll learn that by copying a good design. Another thing you can do is take an app that you think is really bad. So maybe you're using an app for your bank and that was really bad. You know that you don't like it, your friends don't like it. So what you can do is take all the principles that you learned in the course which include gathering user requirements and just doing some research and then designing a new solution and then testing it out with people to see how much of an improvement it made. And then after you've done that, you should write about that and put it out there and get feedback on it. So that's what practice means. It's really going through the whole cycle, applying all the principles that you learned and that's really, I can't stress this enough, this is the most important step and this is the step that most people skip out on.  It really doesn't work that way. You have to put in the hard work and you have to put up with the feeling that you know that you're not good enough in the beginning but you know in your mind what a good design looks like and you want to get to that point and that gap is always frustrating but you will get to it only by practicing. So one tip I can give you when you're practicing, if you're designing for iOS or Android, basically you're designing a mobile app is to check out the human interface guidelines by Apple and Google so you can design apps that feel natural, that feel at home on these two platforms. So if you're designing something for an iPhone or an iPad you should check out the human interface guidelines. Basically what this is is a set of guidelines from Apple telling you what makes good design on iOS and all the pages in it are quite short. It's not a long book that you have to spend a ton of time reading but it just shows you the principles of what makes a good looking iOS app and just by sticking to these principles you can design something that's not too flashy but that feels right at home on iOS and the same thing for Android. So if you take a look at the Google resource and again all of these are going to be linked in the description you'll be able to see what good layout looks like on Android, how much spacing you should leave when you're designing something, you don't want text to be like right against the edge, you should be leaving some margins and things like that. So both of these guides are really excellent resources for you to get started designing something for iOS or Android and to have it look really good from the start. Okay the next to last step is to join a community. Now this is really important especially if you're someone who's learning design on your own and you don't know a lot of other designers, being a part of community is going to help you a ton because it's going to be a place where you get to ask questions, you have other people who are on the same level as you are that are learning and you can meet them online, you can start asking and answering questions, getting feedback on your design in the community and it'll just keep you motivated because you won't feel like you're going through this journey alone. So I picked out one community that I'm going to link in the description and it's called Designer Hangout. This is an invite-only community but it's a free community, there are also paid communities but I wanted to focus everything in this video on what's free and basically you request an invite, you fill out a few information, they just to control the quality of who's coming in and then you'll be able to join a Slack community where you get to have, you get to chat to people, there are Q&As, there's even a job board, communities are a great way to get a job. As you start talking to people and building relationships, maybe someone will be works at a company and you've already built a good relationship with that person, they will think of you when they need someone to hire for a design job for example. All right, final step, step six is learning what you need to know in order to get a job. So this is only relevant if you want to go and get a job at a company instead of freelance somewhere and my two tips for you to get a job is one, to browse job descriptions because that's the best way for you to know exactly what a company wants and someone that is hiring because sometimes especially if you're hanging out online and seeing what designers are talking about you're going to think that that's what companies care about but it's not necessarily the same thing. When someone is hiring they're looking for a very specific set of requirements and you may have like three of them and they need five or six of stuff that you haven't really learned about yet. So just browsing job descriptions is a really good way to know what you need to hit exactly and start to work on your pitch and you're presenting yourself as someone who knows all these topics and can do a good job of them. So you can browse any job listing website and just search for junior UX designer and you'll find something like this and what you want to focus on is the requirements and the skills and experience and this will give you a really good idea of what you need to hit in order to be able to get a job at a company. Basically the list of requirements should be a list of goals for you. You should browse a few job descriptions and create a checklist of items that you need to have so that when you start applying you already have these things that you know you need rather than you finding out during a job interview that there is this really important concept that you should know and now you need to go learn about it. So one thing that comes up a lot when you're applying for a job even from junior positions is that you'll see the company is asking for two or three years of experience for you to apply to that job. Now the reason most companies put that is just to intimidate people and like start to pre-filter candidates who aren't confident enough to apply. So as long as you're confident enough in being able to present your skills and show what you've worked on just go ahead and apply to these jobs anyway. What's really important for you in this step is to have something to show. So if you remember from step four of practicing you need to work on something and then post it online along with a write-up. That means don't just show me some pretty pictures some pretty designs write an article saying exactly how you went through the whole design process how you did user research how you what your design process was like your thinking process the drafts that you tried the alternatives that you considered before you settled on a design and then the final design that came out and how you tested it and what the results were like and what you learned from that and publish that as an article the biggest mistake that junior designers make is just to make some pretty screens put them up on a website and think that that's a good portfolio it's not because one you could have gotten those from anywhere and two it doesn't show the person looking at them that you know what you're doing maybe you just happened to design something that was simple enough and looks okay but you didn't show that you're actually a good designer who knows how to think about design problems and design solutions for them so basically all that a company wants when it's hiring someone is to answer the question can I trust that this person can do this job or not and if you have something documenting your thought process that I can just go and read it and see how much you know about this topic what your thinking process is like and that will help me make a decision about whether I think you're good enough for this job or not the last tip I have for you for getting a job is to employ a concept called the canvas strategy now we have a full video about this that we'll link in the description and above but the idea is that in order to get a job at a company in this case you want to help that company do something and prove that you can be a helpful employee to that company so what I mean by that is let's say you you decide that there's a company that you like and you want to work there so you start following them on social media you start following the people who work there on social media and just start looking for an opportunity they're not going to come out and say hey we need someone to go and design something for us but what you might notice is that there's a gap so for example maybe something on their website is not great maybe something in their app is not the best that it can be so what you can do in this case is go and do the work and do the research to create a solution for a problem that you've identified you can go say hey I really like your service I really like your website for example but I noticed that this part was a little bit lacking and I did some research on it I talked to some people I asked them how this could be better and I designed the solution for you I just want to give it to you I don't want anything in return so this is you just doing them a favor something that's actually really useful for them and giving it away for free and not expecting anything in return and this is really important you shouldn't feel entitled for anything they might just say thank you and that's it or like most people will be impressed enough to start a conversation with you so after that you can start talking about whether they have a design opportunity for you to apply for or that you know they can maybe point you in the right direction to get a job but it's a really really great way to get a job somewhere and that's actually how I got my job at the company I work at where I found out that the CEO of the company was having a problem with his podcast and I went and helped him with it and that made him trust that I'm the type of person who he wants to have working at his company so this is a really really good tip I really recommend that you check out the video on the canvas strategy it's a great way to get a first job okay so this rounds off the six steps that I wanted to share with you for how to go from a complete beginner to someone who can get a UX design job but as you notice there are like six simple steps but simple doesn't really mean easy right like these are six hard steps and it's going to take you a while and you should expect this whole process to take you like six months up to a year if you're really serious about this especially if you're doing it alongside another job and you're learning this on the side so it's really not easy and that's why I start out with a step of figuring out whether this is for you or not because it's a serious commitment and unless you really wanted you won't be able to go through the whole process so to offer you some additional help I want to share with you a few lessons that I learned the hard way about how to go on this journey and the first one is find a partner that you can do this with so find a friend find someone that you maybe like know a little bit just anyone who can be an accountability partner for you what that means is that if you find a friend who also wants to learn about UX design you can start doing this together and this will ensure that both of you are making promises to each other so that when you're checking in with each other every few days or at least like once a week checking in on the progress you're making a promise to your accountability partner to say like okay in this week I'm going to finish the first module of the course I'm going to do some practice and this is what I want to have by the end the reason this works and this is important is because you break promises to yourself all the time and we all do this but it's much harder and you feel a lot more you know shame when you're breaking a promise to someone else so having someone to go with on this journey is really really helpful if you can find a friend to do that that's great if not then maybe you can do it through a community that I suggested earlier so that's the first step and it's really really important the second lesson that I learned the hard way is to set a deadline for yourself so I said earlier that this journey might take you for six months up to a year and during that journey you're going to want to have to have some really concrete milestones and deadlines so that's why I suggested courses for you that are very structured week by week but you're going to need to keep that structure even after you finish the courses as you're learning the tools as you're looking for a job you need to set deadlines for you because when you have a deadline it forces you to make some hard decisions about what to prioritize what you need to do how much time you can dedicate to learning and practicing and without a deadline you will just never finish this if you say I want to learn UX design and you don't give yourself a deadline you'll be saying that for years and I've seen this with other people and you won't be making any progress so you need to be setting deadlines constantly you need to have one big deadline of I want to get a UX job within six months or a year and then you need to break that down month by month okay if I want to get a job within six months what do I need to do by month one by month two by month three and four and so on and then break that down even further week by week like okay this week I need to do these modules and I need to you know design two screens or whatever it is until you get to planning out the day level and that's the next lesson of blocking out your time to learn and practice so what that means is that if you're a student or if you're someone who's working another job you need to find hours in the day whether it's in the morning in the evening where you can actually learn and practice and my tip for you is to put it on your calendar if you don't use a calendar you should start using right now so everyone has a calendar on their phone just create a recurring event for yourself maybe it's after work in the evening you know seven p.m. to nine p.m. or maybe it's the first thing in the morning you know six p.m. to seven p.m. no matter how long it is or how short it is just commit to something so that you're making daily progress because if you set a goal for yourself to finish something within a month but then you don't give it any time during the day it's never going to get done because you will only get to that goal after one month by slowly chipping away at it day after day Lesson number four is about publishing your work and I've already mentioned this but it's that important you need to be practicing then publishing your work somewhere just start a blog somewhere on Medium or Tumblr or whatever it is or WordPress and start documenting your learning journey this is really really important if you don't commit to putting something out there and this should be one of your milestones and deadlines to say I'm gonna publish a design once a week and put it out there and that's how you slowly build a portfolio it's not about about like getting these pretty images and then putting them on a pretty website it's about slowly and surely building up your portfolio by doing good design work and going through the whole process all the steps included and the last lesson that I had to learn the hard way is that you can't avoid getting feedback so the best part about design is that you get to design a new app that you're really excited about and you really think it's a lot better but you don't want to be faced with a hard truth of showing it to other people and them not liking it as much as you do but this is a reality that's going to happen time and again when you're a designer so it's really important to not just avoid critical feedback just so that you wouldn't feel bad you need to take out your design you need to publish them you need to show them to your friends and then get feedback on them and even better you need to get feedback from other designers who can tell you what you did wrong and how you can improve it because you might show an app to someone and they might not like it but they can't tell you what's wrong with it but another designer can and that's where the importance of a community comes in so that's a really really important lesson and as you'll notice these lessons all tie back to the steps that I mentioned earlier and they're really important for you to consider when you're going on this learning journey otherwise the chances of you completing this journey are much much lower so one last resource I want to share with you is a list of three books that will help you to start to see the world like a designer and think like a designer so the first book is don't make me think by Steve Krug and this is a really good book for someone who wants to design any app or website or any digital product it has really good principles it's a really fun read it's a funny book and it's short read as well as you can see it's not a very thick book and the second book is the design of everyday things by Don Norman and that book will really give you like like a designer eye into the world you'll start to see things differently and you'll start to consider how like everyday objects are designed what makes good design what's bad design and you'll really enjoy that if you're going into uh UX design the last book I want to share with you is called sprint by jake nap this book was written by jake nap while he was working in google ventures so this process came out of google and it's a great process for solving big problems so the full name of the book is sprint how to solve big problems and test new ideas in five days so it's a great way to take all of the design process and condense it into five days you go everything from understanding the challenge to coming up with alternatives and prototyping and testing all within one week and we're a big fan of this process at agn smart in fact we use it with our clients all the time we only do projects following the sprint methodology and it's a great process for you to learn if you're just starting out in design so those were my six key steps for going from a complete beginner to someone who can get a UX design job in a short amount of time and when I say short I mean like six months a year because it took me more like three to four years to make this transition and I really wanted to make this video to condense down the essentials for you so you can get started quickly all you need to focus on is showing up every day doing the work and you'll get a job in UX design before you know it I hope you found this video helpful please subscribe and hit the bell icon we put out videos on UI UX and product design every week so make sure not to miss out on these and check us out on LinkedIn for more articles and daily tips on product design and UX design if you have any questions please let me know in the comments and I'll make sure to get back to you and let me know also which step or which lesson resonated with you the most or excited you the most that's also really helpful thank you so much for watching and see you next time hi in this video I'm gonna and my biggest tip for you in this case is to and my tip for you in this case is to and the best thing you can do is always a blooper there's always a blooper with Kyle coming into the shop very invasively when you're feeling like you're stuck somewhere or you're not sure what to do next and that was it the last book is called sprint so sprint believe it or not I didn't have anything to say about it okay so hold on I think that the title is actually good