In this episode, we delve into lifelong learning – the key to growing your superpowers, whether you're interested in taking the next step in your career or feeding your side hustle. We gathered expert tips and advice on how to keep learning and how to decide what new skills will most benefit you. We also get the scoop on how to get the most out of learning conferences and what it takes to earn a certification from Microsoft. Listen to this episode for a chance to win a free three-month subscription to LinkedIn Learning! One lucky Windows Insider will be selected to access the entire LinkedIn Learning library of 10,000 courses. To enter, tweet about the new talents and knowledge you've gained through LinkedIn Learning, and we'll randomly select one entrant to win. So, let us know on Twitter how you've used LinkedIn Learning to up your game. Then, tag your Tweet with #alwaysbelearning and #windowsinsider to be entered into the drawing. Entries must be received by Wednesday, April 18. Episode transcript JASON HOWARD: Welcome to the Windows Insider Podcast. You're listening to Episode 13. I'm your host, Jason Howard. Today, we're talking lifelong learning, that is, how to continue growing your superpowers, whether you're interested in taking the next step in your career, feeding your side hustle, or an amazing new hobby. Plus, we'll share our Windows Insiders can access exclusive free courses on LinkedIn Learning. Our first guest is "the" ultimate lifelong learner. She took a break from her busy job at LinkedIn to share pro tips for acquiring at least three new skills every year. SAVANNAH BARRY: I'm Savannah Barry, and I am a marketing manager at LinkedIn, and I work primarily on LinkedIn Learning. JASON HOWARD: Awesome. Welcome to the studio. SAVANNAH BARRY: Thank you. Thank you for having me. JASON HOWARD: So, we've heard from our colleagues at LinkedIn that you are "the" ultimate lifelong learner and are really savvy in terms of being able to work on new skills to grow your career. Would you mind sharing with everybody your method for doing this? SAVANNAH BARRY: Yeah, totally. So, I'm just a curious person in general. If there is a problem that I come across, I'm very eager to learn how to fix it. I have a hard time, like, just kind of stepping back and saying, "Like, okay, like, someone else handle this problem." Which I think has driven me to be naturally a very curious learner, and kind of have a desire to learn a lot. So when I first joined, I actually joined the Lynda.com team prior to LinkedIn acquiring Lynda.com, and I worked on our enterprise marketing team there. And a great example about what I did there was we needed some e-mails to be coded, and we had to basically rely on an engineering team to build them. And I was, like, "This is not efficient, I cannot get stuff done in the timely manner that I would like it to be." So I basically taught myself how to code e-mails, which I had no idea how to do. But I had a need. I had a problem I needed to overcome, I had some campaigns I wanted to ship, and yeah, I spent months after work learning HTML, taking courses on Lynda, LinkedIn Learning, reading books -- just like basically picking my fiancée's brain, like, "Please teach me how to do this." And at the end of the day, you know, I think it, in general, has made me a better marketer. That's a great example of just like one very tactical thing I did. But I reserve an hour out of my week, every single week, to learn. Truly, I have a calendar invite on Friday, it actually will be after this podcast, where I will basically just reserve at least an hour just to sit down and read something that's like relatable to my career, watch an online course, listen to a podcast -- really, anything that can kind of help me achieve my goals, which I think that has been on my calendar as long as I can remember, so that's kind of how I can carve out time. JASON HOWARD: Well, it sounds like you have a bit of a system -- almost like you've planned out time to go and learn new things. Can you describe some of the, like, the mindset and the process you have behind that? SAVANNAH BARRY: Yeah. I think just knowing that you need to make the time, like, kind of just clearing things out of your brain, off of your desk. I actually go to like a different place. I'll go to a coffee shop, I'll go to a different room in my house, just kind of find a place where I feel a little bit inspired, just to really sit down and focus on the task at hand. So, for example, right now, I'm learning UX design. So I got a bunch of books. And this all stemmed because I was using an app and I was, like, getting really frustrated at it. And I was, like, "Why am I getting so frustrated at this app?" And there's such a psychology behind how we, like, interact with things. And I was very keen to understand. So that is currently what I'm doing. And I have a book in my car that I will be diving into when I get done here, and probably go into a coffee shop or something and read. JASON HOWARD: So one of the things that I was kind of told on the side is that you have a vision board, right? And you list personal and professional skills -- SAVANNAH BARRY: Yes. JASON HOWARD: -- that you want to learn. What prompted that? Where did that come from? I don't have a whiteboard at home, so -- I mean, you know, you might inspire me to go out to Staples or something and go get a whiteboard this afternoon. SAVANNAH BARRY: Yes. I personally think that everyone needs vision boards. I try to make my family and friends make vision boards with me. It hasn't really caught on with them as much as it's caught on with me. (Laughter.) But this year, I actually did it on a whiteboard, and I like drew out what I wanted to do. So I draw, like, pictures and goals and just what I want my year to look like. And that always consists of three professional and three personal things I want to learn. So where did it start? I think I was like in college and one of my psychology classes, like, talking about vision boards or something -- I don't know. I don't even remember where -- exactly where it started, but I've been doing it since I was in college. I used to make my roommates in college do it with me and cut out pictures from magazines and glue them on paper. We'd go get the hot pink, big poster boards -- JASON HOWARD: Oh, goodness, yeah. SAVANNAH BARRY: -- and like glue stuff on there. Yeah, I did that. JASON HOWARD: It's almost like a high school collage. SAVANNAH BARRY: Yeah. But then when I joined LinkedIn, we have these things called "in days" where we have basically one day out of a month where we focus on doing something outside of your job. So every January, it's like a vision "in day." So they actually encourage you to make mood boards. Like, okay, perfect. (Laughter.) So started doing it at work and now I work at home, so now I have a little bit of a different vision board area, but yeah, it's truly pictures, words, things that just inspire me and kind of keep me motivated throughout the day, throughout the year, and just a way to kind of keep myself accountable for the goals I set early on in the year and just really make sure that those are staying top of mind for me throughout the day. JASON HOWARD: Was this something that you did individually? Did your team come together and you kind of like group -- encouraged each other? Like, what was that process like? SAVANNAH BARRY: Yeah, it was a little bit individual, but I definitely tried to source feedback from, like, my manager, my peers, like, here's kind of what I'm doing, do you have any ideas on, like, professional goals that I should maybe focus on for next year? This year, one of my learning goals is SEO and SEM, which I haven't really gotten my feet wet with yet, but my manager was basically, like, "Hey, here's something that would be pretty interesting I think for you to learn." And so that's another thing that I'll be focusing on. JASON HOWARD: I'm assuming SEO being search engine optimization? SAVANNAH BARRY: Yes. Yes. Yes. JASON HOWARD: Okay. SAVANNAH BARRY: Thank you for clarifying. (Laughter.) JASON HOWARD: No, hey, I mean, you know, this is my Microsoft, we use acronyms like they're going out of style. (Laughter.) So can you tell me a little bit about, like, your decision-making process? You said in this circumstance, you know, your manager, you know, you sought some feedback to help you guide down that path, right? And, obviously, there's things that you come up with on your own that you want to learn. So how do you decide what's going to be the best use of your time? Because, I mean, that's kind of the limiting or deciding factor here is you have to make the time to do it, so where does that decision process come from? SAVANNAH BARRY: Yeah, you know, I really try to focus on things that I think will help me become the professional that I want to be, and really the person that I want to be. I think about, "Where do I want to be in five years, and like, what skills will help me get there?" So I do a lot of research. I read a lot of blogs, I do a lot of peer research, asking around, like, people who are in jobs that maybe I aspire to be in, like, what are some skills that they think helped shape their career, take them to the next level? And I usually start with a pretty long list. I'll, like, throughout the year, I'll have, like, a running Word doc and I'll just put stuff in there, and then I can reevaluate and say, "Okay, here are the things that actually feel tactical for the year." The UX one was definitely not on my list, it just like -- my, like, obsession with, like, how I'm interacting with things, I was, like, I need to. This is a l
