I Took 30 Classes in 30 Days And Here's What I Learned

I started this month’s challenge with an insane amount of excitement and energy. This challenge was probably the most exciting challenge I’ve done thus far just because I love learning new skills and tidbits.

I’m a huge believer that we’re all students of the world and we should never stop learning. There are so many resources and ways for us to learn and all of these should be taken advantage of.

So, I set out on a mission to complete 30 classes in 30 days and thanks to sites like Skillshare learning has never been easier. When deciding how I would go about doing this challenge, I decided it would be best for me to go through and pick out all the classes I wanted to take prior to starting and then break them up by category so that each week had a specific topic.

Week 1 – Writing and Wellness

Obviously, the first classes I picked out were centered around writing. I’m always looking at ways to improve my writing and interested in learning about other writers’ writing processes.

In addition to writing, I picked a few wellness classes to take. Of course, because they both started with W’s and because I love any kind of wellness class in regards to mental health, spirituality, balance, etc. Anything that can teach me how to be a better human is right up my alley.

So with that being said, my classes in week one were:

As a writer, there are times I have trouble coming up with a topic to write about, which is what drew me to the “Pro tips and Prompts to Get You Journaling Everyday” class, and anytime I can learn more about writing for the internet I take advantage of it. None of the writing classes were anything special but it was useful for me to go back to the beginning and think about my writing choices and style.

When I chose the meditation class I was a bit hesitant, because this wasn’t the first or even 10th time I had attempted to learn how to meditate. It’s not as easy as it looks. My brain doesn’t just shut off and I can say even after taking this class, I have no idea how people are able to meditate. If I’m not thinking, I’m sleeping. This class only made me frustrated but could be useful for those who think meditation might be for them. My mind just won’t go silent.

Lastly, even though I’m a pretty organized person, I love getting new organizational tips. The amount of organizational Instagram accounts and hashtags I follow is something that shouldn’t be admitting but I’m crazy about the “cuteness” of organization. I was a fan of this class and loved that it even went into detail about organizing your computer and Cloud. Want to know what PP is and the power of PP? Take this class.

Week 2 – Photography and Pizza

Did you actually think I wouldn’t keep categorizing my weekly classes by the first letter of each topic? Ha. Of course not.

When I got my first digital camera (ancient) I thought I was bound to be a National Geographic photographer. Seriously! Thanks to my mom’s Facebook, my fab photography skills from middle school will live on. So because everyone is a photographer these days with their smartphone and Instagram, I decided a few photography classes would be useful and chose pizza classes so that I can listen to Dean Martin and pretend I’m in Italy.

I loved all of the photography classes. I’m always scrolling through Instagram wondering why some people can take a picture of a stack of books and make it look so fascinating and eye-catching, yet when I take the same picture it literally looks like a stack of books. These classes taught me how to capture the right content at the right angle with the right lighting and background. It goes far beyond just pointing, snapping, and editing with a few apps. There were two classes which were more for professional cameras but all of the tips and tricks could easily be applied to iPhone pictures. If you’re looking to step up your Instagram game this is the place to start.

On the other hand the pizza class was a complete fail, and unfortunately, it wasn’t because of the teacher; it was the student. I’m far from a pizza chef and will be sticking to delivery, but it was a fun attempt until it came time to do the dishes. Those who have more experience and expertise in the kitchen would probably love this class but I’m going to hang up the apron and stay out of the kitchen.

Week 3 – Freelance and Finance

This is the week that the nerves kicked in. Freelance writing is something I’m very interested in learning about and one day doing, but the whole freelance world is so overwhelming to me that when I start to learn about it, I usually end up scrolling through Instagram.

Then there’s finance. If we were to still get grades as adults I would be failing in finance. I’ve never been good at it. I don’t know anything about stocks. I can barely tell you the difference between a Roth 401k and traditional 401k. I learned the difference between variable and fixed interest rates after I got a student loan. It’s probably the only thing I’m worse at than cooking.

I’m serious when it comes to these two topics. They’re what I need to learn most and understand least and with a title like “Become a Boss Girl” who wouldn’t sign up for that class?

My favorite class out of the bunch was “Become a Boss Girl. Start a Blog, YouTube Channel, Etsy Shop. Whatever It Is Just Start!” This was my favorite because the teacher has a downloadable kit which includes a planner, worksheets and desktop organizer and I am a sucker for any and all of this stuff. I also enjoyed the class because it was specifically for one type of industry. It was just about being a kick-ass girl boss!

I was interested in the portfolio class simply because I have an online portfolio and I wanted to know if there was anything this class offered that I could apply to my current portfolio. I didn’t get as much out of the freelance classes as I was hoping to but they all were still very informative and helpful.

In the “Learn How to Budget” class I got to lesson three and exited. The lesson was about figuring out your current net worth and sometimes there are roads that you don’t want to go down and that was one of those roads that day. The stock market class was a tad bit helpful and if I were to do more research I could see myself one day knowing what the hell the stock market is all about.

Week 4 – Marketing and Music Production

Since I’m in digital marketing, it’s always good for me to take classes and learn about any new trends or tools. Music production is a bit of a stretch but there weren’t very many M’s to choose from and I figured it might be interesting to learn about.

Let me start off by saying before taking “Learn How To Sing Better in 10 Lessons” I sounded like a cat crying and after I took this class I still sound like a cat crying. I was kind of hoping that it would somehow transform my voice into Beyonce’s but sadly it did not. It did go over tips that would probably help those who already have good singing voices so, by all means, don’t let my failure stop you. You could be the next Beyonce and not even know it yet.

The best thing about learning how to read music was that I was reminded of my fifth-grade music class. As I went through the class little things that I had learned back then kept popping back up in my head––stuff that I had stored away from a rainy day made an appearance and I suddenly remembered the different notes and symbols in music.

Everyone hears SEO and everyone “knows” SEO but it’s so broad and there’s so much to know that you can never learn enough about SEO. This class just further proved that and I could read forever about SEO and still not know everything I should. Any class that covers social media is one that should be taken and retaken once updated. Social media is always changing and it’s always good to stay up to date.

Week 5 – Random

This week I chose five random classes to finish up the challenge. There was no specific topic or genre of classes, I just chose five that I thought would be interesting to learn.

This week was my favorite. I chose classes that I knew very little about and that I most likely won’t ever use in my life but still thought it would be neat to know about. I don’t know how to do the alphabet in sign language completely off memory but a few more times and I think I’ll have it down.

Overall I highly recommend this challenge to anyone who is also a curious soul and wants to learn just to learn. Will I ever need to know how to be an interior designer or make a homemade pizza? No, not necessarily but I know a few extra tips and tricks to help me in case I ever want to.

You don’t know what you don’t know and in taking classes and exploring all the world’s resources you can discover interests and talents you never knew you had. You can have flashbacks to your fifth-grade class and get excited that you remember something from that class you thought was totally useless.

Adulting Tip: Take advantage of all the learning you can get your hands on. Continue to explore and learn about the world you live in because you never know when your knowledge will come in handy.

Having knowledge about anything is great and is a power that nobody can take away from you. Another goal is met. Another challenge is accepted and completed.

Explore the world you live in whether it’s taking a sign language class or learning how the stock market works.

This is a part of an ongoing series “The Adulting Experiments.” View the first three in the adulting series.

Read: 30 days of being in-between jobs in my twenties

Read: 30 days without fast food

Read: My 30 day challenge attempt at becoming a morning person