I spent $6,347 to learn this year

I thought that people who paid for learning post-university were suckers.

If I told my 20-year-old self that I spent $6,347 to learn in a year, she would not have believed me.

I used to be the person that scoured the internet for as many free resources as I could, combing through the noise and sifting for golden nuggets that can improve my skills. When I wanted to paint an idyllic rose garden landscape, I watched free tutorials on YouTube. When I wanted to delve into the works of Jane Austen, I enrolled in free Coursera courses. When I wanted to learn how to write, I found David Perell’s The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online – also free.

But of course, signing up for something doesn’t mean I learned anything. I watched hours of tutorials and couldn’t figure out why my painting didn’t look realistic. I binge-listened to Jane Austen lectures but never analyzed her work. I had David’s writing guide open on my browser tab for months and never put out a Substack post.

I thought that people who paid for learning post-university were suckers. Everything is available online and for free anyway. There’s nothing you can’t learn from the internet! But scavenging through the wild wild web takes time. And this year, I decided that I wanted to be more thoughtful with my time. How do I gain or upgrade my skills with minimal time? By following a learning plan that someone else has curated.

Also known as: paid courses.

At the beginning of the year, I set aside some funds for learning. I had just switched jobs, so I had additional disposable income. I allocated some HK$10,000 (US$1,300). I grossly underestimated my budget. Turns out that quality education is not cheap. I was sticker shocked for all of the courses I wanted to join.

What tipped me over the edge is that all the courses I chose to join involved some form of feedback, which would accelerate my learning curve instead of me just iterating on my work on my own (think editing my own essays without realizing I didn’t have a main idea for any of them, or painting a landscape without realizing that the problem lies in not having enough contrast when I’m just focused on picking the right colors). Plus, feedback only works if I actually do the work. In a way, I became accountable to these commitments.

Knowledge can be free but practice isn’t. And the feedback on said practice is priceless.

I mulled over each of these expenses, and decided that they would all ultimately be worth it. For example, my day job involves a lot of writing. If I become a better writer after taking a writing course, maybe I could tackle more challenging pieces at work and would reap the rewards there.

Here’s what I spent on learning this year:

• $500 on Write of Passage, an online writing course that promises to 2x students’ potential if we publish one essay every week. Each week of the course has two live lectures, a peer group meetup, asynchronous feedback from paid editors and fellow students, bonus sessions on writing-adjacent topics, and endless peer brainstorming sessions. I applied for a scholarship and paid what I could, which at the time was $500. I started this Substack after joining the course and wrote some of my favourite essays.

• $250 on Photography for Creatives by

  Steven Foster
  . I’ve always loved taking photos but never really posted them anywhere. During this two-week course led by 5 high-caliber creatives, they took us through the process of taking photos, editing, storytelling with visuals. I’ve since really leaned into using my own pictures in my essays and it’s thanks to Steven’s relentless encouragement.

• $1,500 on writing with

  Alex Dobrenko`
  . After picking up the weekly writing cadence, I wanted to push myself further under the guidance of a dedicated writer who knows the online writing space. Alex’s writing has humor and heart, and after reading his tagline - copywriter, comedian, codependent - I knew I wanted to emulate his wit in my writing. He has helped me publish these two beautiful essays.

• $200 on watercolor classes with Jared Cullum, learning how to develop landscape paintings through this extremely finicky painting medium. We did 6 weeks of painting in total, and I’ve received feedback on each of the paintings I’ve submitted.

• $1,875 on workout classes (~$18-$31/class). I used to go to the gym 3x a week, but finding the motivation to go is always a challenge. And when I go, I always have to push myself to do another set of lats or another rep of a deadlift. When I come to classes, all I have to do is show up. I just follow the routine, and in a way, I have outsourced my “willpower” to the instructors telling us what to do. I became so much stronger physically after going to strength and pilates classes which has improved my health. One side effect: being stronger also fed into my confidence.

• $1,885 on therapy (~$200/session), which is a form of learning in itself. Apart from wallowing in my feelings, I’ve picked up how to be more self-aware, e.g. through meditation (see below), learn to process my emotions (I’m a chronic feeling shover), and expand my mind and heart to experiences that life has to offer. I go every two weeks.

• $120 on Waking Up (affiliate), a meditation app by Sam Harris. This was a recommendation from my therapist, and though I’m still halfway through the 30-day introduction course (it’s been over 3 months now), I have felt the calming effects of meditating for 10 minutes at a time, even though I was really hoping it wouldn’t work so I could say that “I tried it but it’s not for me”.

• $17 on two Domestika courses for artists I’m a fan of. I went through the first class, but didn’t even start the second. I kinda saw getting these courses as a way to support their work - I learn so much from their free content on Instagram anyway. So I didn’t mind not going through the courses, though I should to get “my money’s worth”.

Do I really need to spend $6,000 every year on learning? Probably not. I could very much improve my skills if I opted for the lower-cost or free route. But It’s a great end to my frustration of mining free resources that used to leave me confused and overwhelmed. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the swift development in my skills, publishing week after week or painting better landscapes. 

It’s hard to quantify the “return on investments” from learning, at least not immediately. I won’t immediately earn my writing course fee back in paid subscriptions or sell a painting that covers the watercolor course fee. But the magic of learning is that the new knowledge and skills permeate throughout my life. Understanding visual painting compositions would give me a better eye for photography, for example. And writing better would let me comprehend more complex reading material, which in turn could feed back into my work or my writing.

Each year, I invest around $8,000 in the stock market, which I’m expecting long-term returns for. It only makes sense if I invested in my own skills as well, with the same time horizon (long-term) and much greater return.

Next year, I’m staying on the path of paying to learn. I’ll be continuing with workouts, meditation and therapy, while also planning to start in two new classes in the new year: learning Mandarin and digital painting with a tablet software called HEAVYPAINT.

If my 40-year-old self looked back and saw this to be the year I started paying for extra learning, I know she would be so grateful.

Thank you to

Harrison Moore

,

Linart Seprioto

,

Rohan Gayen

,

Lavinia Iosub

,

Miche Priest

, and

Maria

for continuously learning with me.

---

Update log:

• 💙 My recent therapy session involved sitting with my happiness and the love I felt in my heart just as I would do with anger and sadness. Angie said we’re building muscles for all sorts of emotions, and we should do that for the “brighter” feelings, too.

• 🎄 Reading

  Chris Cordry, LMFT
  ’s Slow Holidays Manifesto, which outlines 7 ways to do good for your family, your community, your wallet, and the world this festive season.

• ✍🏼 My childhood best friend started a Substack! Read

  nat
  ’s experience as a first-time university tutor and her grief after finishing a manuscript.

• 📺 Ohmygosh The Office is so funny, I’m so happy I have 7 more seasons of this show to go through. It’s also really fun to see Jacqueline Carlyle in her pre-EIC days.

• 💍 Went to a close friend’s wedding with the theme “Old Hong Kong”. It was a beautiful and intimate evening, followed with a fun night singing and losing my voice.

• 🌈 Work-related announcement: I’m the incoming co-chair of Interbank Hong Kong, a peer organization for LGBTQ+ employee resource groups across the financial services industry.