Manage what you get for your budget to meet your learning goal

Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash

I know you’re building excitement to finally start on your learning project. Today, we’re going to talk about the second point in something called the quality triangle — money.

The quality triangle’s three points are time, money, and quality. The concept is simple. Increasing time and money should increase quality. Decreasing time and money should decrease quality.

Unfortunately, in learning projects — time and money often have little to do with quality. You have to use some other factors to decide how to make a budget for your learning project.

First, your financial budget should be set before you begin gathering resources.

Second, there are other things you can think of when gathering resources to meet a learning goal.

• Who will you get access to as a part of the learning experience? For example, I don’t recommend you buy Tiago Forte’s Building A Second Brain for the knowledge Tiago provides. You can get that for free in many places online. I would support buying access to that course for the community you receive access to?
• How much time and attention will you get from the “instructor”? Particularly in large online courses like Ship 30, BASB, etc — you get little to no one on one attention from the instructors. You need to balance that knowledge with your own priorities.
• What exposure will you receive that contributes to your goals? As an undergraduate, I got my first job because of a deep relationship with a professor. Who you connect to in learning activities matters.

Remember, budget goes way beyond just money when thinking about meeting a learning goal. You need to strike the balance that’s right for you.