How To Learn A High-Income Skill Fast In 2024

How many times have you started a course on Coursera or LinkedIn Learning, so you can develop a high-income skill such as software development, project management, or digital marketing, only to abandon it a few days or weeks later?

Don’t feel bad about it—just admit it.

It turns out that there are thousands of other professionals in the same boat as you.

For instance, one author and editor of the Washington Monthly, Anne Kim, pointed out that Google’s Data Analytics Certificate on Coursera had 1.9 million learners enrolled as of July 2023 (this figure has now jumped to over 2.6 million enrollees one year later). But despite the enormous numbers, Kim realized that by the time she reached course eight in the data analytics certificate program, there were only 328,000 enrolled, suggesting an 83% attrition rate.

This is hardly surprising, as it is a well-known fact within the e-learning and MOOC (massive open online courses) industry, that although learners may rush to a course and become excited about it initially so they can finally develop their skills, the completion rate is extremely low across the board, with some sources suggesting that up to 85% of students do not complete online courses.

There are many reasons that most of us hardly complete the courses we’ve started.

After all, time and family commitments get in the way. Emergencies happen. Major life events and changes take place. Work demands just get even more intensive. It seems that all of a sudden, now that we’re committed to learn and grow ourselves, there simply isn’t the time, and developing a new high-income skill takes longer than initially expected.

We say, “I’ll get back to that course later,” but “later” never comes. So we lose interest entirely and simply do not have the mental space to get back on track. The course might also feel demotivating due to being too fast-paced, or conversely, too easy to complete.

Surely, there must be a better way.

The good news is that there is. Here are a few ways you can learn and acquire a high-income skill without aimlessly spending more months or years than necessary:

1. Identify Your Career Goals

Before committing to learning a new skill, you should always take time to ask yourself, What are my overall life and career goals? After all, any new undertaking requires discipline and focus, and you will only remained disciplined and committed to developing new skills if they are relevant to your goals for your life and career. Otherwise, acquiring new skills, just for the sake of it, has no real tangible value or meaning.

2. Identify The Skills Needed

Let’s say, for example, you’ve discovered that your long term career goal is to become a program director within the technology industry. Your next step therefore is to decide what specific skill sets you will need so that you can be qualified for the wall and perform it efficiently. To help you visualize this more effectively, create a Venn diagram. (A Venn diagram is where two circles overlap and objects or characteristics are placed on both circles and in the overlapping area in the center.)

On the large circle to the left title job skills these are the skills that you have identified are necessary For this career based on your thorough search. With the example of program director, some skills that you might place in this circle can include agile, project management, product management, risk management, stakeholder management, and team leadership skills.

On the circle to the right, you would list your own existing skills. For the sake of argument, let’s say that you determine that you have team leadership skills and experience, communication skills, and programming languages and related skills, as well as stakeholder and risk management under your belt.

Now, for the overlap in the middle, where both circles meet, you would eliminate the programming languages and focus solely on the skills which are a match for the job of program director—those that match the left circle.

The skills that are left over from that left circle are the ones you need to concentrate on working on and developing. Now, you have a more targeted, focused approach.

3. Understand Your Learning Style And Preferences

Everyone learns in different ways. For some people, they prefer to attend lectures and thrive on research papers. Others would rather enhance their study through listening to books on the go. Still others prefer micro learning, which is where you absorb information and complete coursework with only a few minutes of your time each day, usually in the form of short videos and bitesize assignments.

For you, it may be the case that you’d rather learn on their job, and gain practical experience while studying to be a specialist within the role. Whatever works for you, you need to be clear on that and stick to it.

Of course, there are some instances in which you cannot be fully qualified for a role by following your preferred learning style, but in those cases, you can motivate yourself to complete the development of that skill by augmenting your learning with resources from your preferred style.

4. Set Goals

The next step is to start setting goals. for the duration of your upskilling period. Your goals should follow the SMART acronym, which means they should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant (see step one above)
• Time-bound

For instance, if you started a Google career certificate on Coursera such as Google’s Data Analytics course, and it stated on there that the rough estimate for how long it would take to complete the course is six months with eight hours of study a week, it’s up to you to look at each course within the entire certificate and create a roadmap to pace yourself. Ask yourself questions, such as, By what date do I want to complete XYZ section of the course? By when should I complete the first module for course 1? When do I expect to complete course 2? Courses 3, 4, 5, and so on?

For each deadline you set yourself, give yourself a pat on the back to keep you going. Celebrate yourself—it can be big or small.

5. Create Accountability

Last but not least, you need to create a sense of accountability. Ask your closest co-worker, best friend, spouse, or family members who want the best for you, to hold you accountable and to remind you to stay focused when you’re tempted to slip up. Reach out to your LinkedIn connections and let them know that you’re determined to learn a new high-income skill this year, and that you need their help to remain motivated.

Through following these five steps, you become empowered to be the best version of yourself, and to live and work in the career and job of your dreams.

So…that Google career certificate you’ve been putting off for a while?

It’s time to stop the excuses and get back to business.