Month Two of My Learning Journey: Progress, Reflections, and Realizations
I've been home for about a month now, fully immersed in studying web development, personal development, and other educational resources that I’ve long wanted to explore. Now, as I move into my second month, I can confidently say that I’ve learned and accomplished quite a bit.
Today, I completed the HTML/CSS section of The Odin Project and finished the first draft of my Odin Landing Page project. It may be a little rough around the edges—a bit cobbled together—but the important thing is that I was able to complete it in just a few hours. There’s always room for improvement, and I’ll revisit it later for refactoring and adding mobile responsiveness as I progress through the course.
On the web development front, I’m also about 90% done with Responsive Web Design and the HTML/CSS portion of the Full Stack Open curriculum. I will say that I’m not particularly thrilled about the CSS artwork projects they want students to complete—it feels like overkill when the goal is simply to grasp fundamental concepts. Still, I’ll throw something together at some point just to check the box and earn the certificate.
Beyond web development, I’ve made progress in several other areas of personal growth:
✅ Completed Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley on Coursera
✅ Finished the first two courses in the Improve Your Time Management Skills path on LinkedIn Learning
✅ Watched 14 out of 52 episodes of The Mechanical Universe
✅ Completed 90% of Intro to Personal Finance on Khan Academy
✅ Started Mindshift by Barbara Oakley
Lately, I’ve also started watching a Jim Rohn seminar on how to make the next year my best year ever. His insights have been nothing short of incredible—a wealth of wisdom that, frankly, should have been taught in school. And yet, it wasn’t.
Why Aren’t We Taught This in School?
The more I learn, the more glaring it becomes that critical life skills—personal finance, personal development, entrepreneurship, business-building—are deliberately left out of the traditional education system. And I do believe it’s deliberate, not accidental.
I know the phrase "they" is amorphous, but it seems evident that the American education system was not designed to develop independent thinkers or future business owners. It was built to churn out obedient workers, people who won’t complain too much about being squeezed harder with each passing year.
We aren’t taught how to balance a budget, save money, or invest wisely—not unless our parents took it upon themselves to teach us, and even then, they were often left in the dark by the same system. Instead, we are taught to follow the script:
1️⃣ Go to school.
2️⃣ Get a job.
3️⃣ Work your entire life.
4️⃣ Retire.
5️⃣ Die—preferably soon after, to ease the burden on the Social Security system.
And, of course, consume mindlessly along the way. Everything—pop culture, entertainment, media—seems designed to extract as much money from our pockets as possible. If we knew better, we’d be free, but they don’t want us to be free. They want us to be subjects, locked in a cycle of work, debt, and passive consumption.
Church. State. Entertainment. Education. The aim of all these institutions seems eerily similar:
Don’t ask too many questions.
Don’t step out of line.
Stay on the treadmill.
But here’s the thing—we don’t have to play by those rules.
Taking Responsibility for My Own Success
I refuse to settle for the limitations I was taught. I want to do and be so much more than I ever thought possible.
I’m fully aware that my own struggles with self-confidence are internal, not solely the product of society. I don’t blame the system for where I’m at in life. But I do recognize the reality that, in this world, success is something you have to take responsibility for.
No one is going to hold my hand and show me how to succeed. There’s no secret map, no guidebook handed out at birth. If I want a different future, I have to build it myself.
I want to learn everything, and at times, it feels like I’m drinking from a firehose—there’s so much to absorb, and time is finite. But I know the secret:
🔹 A little consistent effort, every single day.
🔹 Learning, refining, improving.
🔹 Breaking free from old limitations.
Because if not me, then who?
If not now, then when?
This is just the beginning. 🚀