What Fixing My Refrigerator Taught Me About Learning New Skills in 2019

By Ari Kaplan

Growing up, my dad used to make me hold the flashlight whenever he had to fix something. If it wasn't dark, I held the screwdriver or the nails or the caulking gun. Through those experiences, I learned less about how to actually fix things and more about the promise associated with trying.

A few months ago, I arrived home at 10:30pm from New Orleans, where I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the Worldox User Conference. The first thing my wife said to me was:

"I missed you so much and I'm glad you're home safely."

Ok. I made that up.

Her exact words were:

"The refrigerator in the garage is broken. Please try to figure out what's wrong and fix it. Good night."

So, I went downstairs and noticed that the main lights were on but all of the gadgetry was off. With no mechanical skills whatsoever, I did what I have taught my children to do when they have a problem like this and asked Google. In a minute or two, I learned that the most common reason that refrigerators like ours malfunction is a faulty motherboard and decided that this had to be the problem.

I went upstairs, told my wife the motherboard was broken and that I would order a new one.

Her response:

"Wow. I am so impressed. How lucky I am to have married someone so handsome and capable and funny. My mom was totally wrong about you."

Made that one up too. She was fast asleep.

The next day, I removed the motherboard. And, two days later, the new one arrived.

To my wife’s surprise, I fixed it. Once I stopped dancing in disbelief, the experience reminded me that most of what moves us forward in our marketing, business development, and networking is a willingness to make a mistake. The key is consistency and a commitment to generating forward momentum. [Of course, you catch watch the (humorous) repair process below.]

I experimented with this concept in a professional context this year after interviewing a visionary public company CEO in financial services for my new book, who mentioned that many of his new hires know python. Since it is apparently one of the most popular languages for data scientists and is strongly related to the development of artificial intelligence, I decided to teach myself to code.

Recognizing the challenges of self-motivation, I created a private Slack group (inspired by Keith Lee, the mastermind behind LawyerSmack) for anyone who also wanted to take a free, self-directed 13-week Codecademy course on Python. I announced this endeavor publicly on LinkedIn to build accountability into the process and within a week, the group counted almost 30 individuals from around the world as members.

A few months later, as you may have guessed, most of the members have not participated at all. Despite that reality, a few of us still communicate and I have completed more than half of the initial curriculum. It may be slow and we may not be able to build an AI bot yet, but we are generating momentum. Most of all, we are actually learning python.

To some, the group would be considered a failure. The irony is that despite the lack of participation in the overall group, the ultimate goal of learning python is clearly being met.

So, in 2019, engage in initiatives that will allow you to fail and succeed simultaneously.

Start with an Announcement

One of the most effective techniques for making material progress on an objective is to announce it publicly. You may not reach your target, but you are much more likely to get closer to it than if you simply decided to act. At a minimum, you will receive encouragement and strategic suggestions for proceeding.

Create a Group of Like-Minded Peers

By inviting your colleagues to join you on an endeavor, you organically build a network of support. In addition to friendly accountability, you can benchmark your progress, ask questions, and share your success. The other members of your group also take pride in your shared mission and help to ensure its completion. While not everyone in the group will stay active or even a part of the unit, a dedicated cohort is likely to form.

Leverage Technology to Support Your Effort

In the python example, I connected three separate tools to execute the plan. First, I made a public announcement on LinkedIn. Then, I created a private group on Slack. Finally, I registered for a free class on Codecademy. When combined, they create a powerful way to broadcast, collaborate, and learn.

Be Prepared to Provide Progress Reports

It should be noted that once you declare something publicly, you need to be prepared to provide progress reports to you peers and other members of your network. It is actually one of the reasons that this technique is so successful: people do not like to give the impression that they cannot keep their word. More importantly, it gives you a story to tell, fuels conversation, and often makes you interesting. When you’re interesting, you’re memorable. When you’re memorable, opportunity follows.

Create an opportunity in the new year by announcing a small initiative on the social network of your choice, creating a virtual group using familiar technology, and establishing a simple objective on which you can easily measure progress (like an online class in coding).

Yes, few people might show up, and it may look like a failure in the short term, but if your goal is progress and momentum, then the bar is quite low and easy to exceed.

Originally published here in Marketing the Law Firm as Fail Frequently this Fall to Succeed.