FLASHCARDS! Self-Taught Is a Skill
It’s Flashcards Friday! This podcast is a follow-up to Tuesday’s episode about Benjamin Banneker. This brilliant individual was predominantly self-taught. I found his story very inspiring because he was self-educated. In other words, he learned everything he knew about astronomy and surveying without being in a classroom.
And today, when people say they are self-taught, that means so more than solo learning. It means they took it upon themselves to learn something very valuable for their skill set, for their interests, and for what inspires them to start their day. So, with that said, self-taught is a capability you build. It’s the ability to teach yourself something new, keep going without external structure, and become the kind of person who can adapt when the world changes.
I think that is why Benjamin Banneker lands so well with today’s listeners. He’s often described as self-educated, and whether you’re taking Coursera courses, MOOCs, or stacking certificates on LinkedIn, you’re doing a modern version of that same thing: you’re training the skill of learning itself.
Today’s episode is about what self-teaching does for you, beyond the facts you memorize. It builds self-reliance. It supports brain health across your lifespan and it can even make you a better communicator.
1) Self-teaching builds self-reliance that compounds
Self-teaching is not only “knowledge acquisition.” It’s self-management under uncertainty.
When you learn on your own, you practice decisions that a traditional classroom often makes for you:
- You choose the target instead of being assigned one.
- You decide what matters and what is noise.
- You figure out what “done” looks like.
- You troubleshoot your own confusion without panicking.
That is the backbone of self-reliance.
And the reason it matters is transfer. Once you train that muscle, it shows up everywhere: learning a new tool at work, switching industries, preparing for interviews, starting a side project, or simply staying calm when you hit something unfamiliar.
Self-teaching turns “I don’t know this” into “I don’t know this yet, and I have a process.”
2) Your brain benefits because it stays changeable
Here’s the encouraging neuroscience framing: your brain stays capable of adapting across the lifespan. A major review on neural plasticity described plasticity as a set of phenomena, some of which operate across most or all of life, not only in childhood. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5193480/
So when you learn something new, especially something that forces attention, memory, and correction, you are not merely “staying busy.” You’re giving your brain a reason to strengthen and reorganize networks.
This matters psychologically, too. Learning teaches a quiet emotional lesson alongside the cognitive one: I can enter the unfamiliar and stay steady. That skill is valuable in literally every decade of adulthood.
3) Learning supports healthier aging by building cognitive reserve
Now, the aging piece, because this is where self-teaching becomes more than a hobby.
There’s a well-known idea called cognitive reserve. In plain language, it’s the brain’s ability to use networks flexibly and efficiently so you can continue performing cognitive tasks even as the brain changes with age. The Alzheimer’s Association describes cognitive reserve as something you build over your lifetime and emphasizes staying mentally active by learning new things. https://www.alz.org/help-support/brain_health/challenge-your-mind
And this is not just theoretical. A 2025 longitudinal study in Innovation in Aging reported that later-life learning was associated with better cognitive function over time. https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/9/5/igaf023/8045326
Important: this is not a guarantee, and it’s not medical advice. It’s a realistic, evidence-aligned encouragement. Continued learning is one of the more accessible ways to keep the brain engaged, challenged, and flexible.
4) Certificates help because they make learning visible
Now, let’s get concrete about the career angle you want: LinkedIn certificates.
A certificate highlights new skills, can signal that you are not stuck in your ways, and that you are willing to learn new skills. It also gives you an easy way to document momentum when you’re pivoting careers or trying to stand out.
LinkedIn provides a built-in feature for adding LinkedIn Learning certificates of completion to your profile, including an “Add to profile” option from your learning history. https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a704787/add-learning-certificates-of-completion-and-skills-to-your-linkedin-profile
Here’s the difference-maker, though: do not post the certificate alone. Pair it with one sentence that translates it into value. For example:
- “This course improved how I explain technical ideas to non-experts.”
- “This certificate strengthened my ability to analyze data and present conclusions clearly.”
- “This learning path helped me manage projects with clearer scope and timelines.”
The certificate is the receipt. Your sentence is the story.
5) Self-teaching can make you a better communicator
This one surprises people, but it’s reliable: learning improves communication because learning forces clarity.
Every new topic makes you rehearse the same communication moves:
- Define the terms.
- Put the steps in order.
- Summarize without jargon.
- Ask better questions.
- Notice what you misunderstood and fix it.
That is communication training.
Career guidance sources consistently frame communication as a set of learnable skills, such as active listening, clear structure, and responsive questioning. Indeed, for example, highlights active listening as a critical communication skill and connects it to problem-solving and understanding. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/active-listening-skills
So if someone notices they speak more clearly after doing a run of online courses, that’s not accidental. Learning gives you practice turning messy information into a precise sequence. That is exactly what good communicators do.
6) The identity shift: “I am someone who keeps learning.”
Here’s the part that ties everything together.
Self-teaching changes your identity in a subtle, powerful way. You stop seeing learning as something that happens only under institutional permission. You start seeing it as something you can generate.
That identity is protective. It makes your future less fragile.
If your industry changes, you can reskill.
If your job shifts, you can keep up.
If life gets weird, you can stay flexible.
And that’s a success strategy, not just a personality preference.
7) The courage shift: “I can learn what’s uncomfortable.”
Here’s the upgrade that makes self-teaching more than a career move.
When you teach yourself, you don’t only learn what’s trendy or convenient. You can also choose the topics that deepen your judgment, even when they stretch your comfort zone. That includes understanding the history of slavery and the ways it shaped American systems, not as a side note, but as a structure.
That kind of learning strengthens the same self-reliant skill you use everywhere else.
If you can stay with difficult material, you can stay with complex problems.
If you can build context, you can make better decisions.
If you can discuss complex history with clarity, you become a better communicator.
And you don’t have to start with a mountain. You can begin with one serious book or one long-form article.
Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told and Sven Beckert’s Empire of Cotton connect slavery to the growth of American capitalism.
Ira Berlin’s Many Thousands Gone shows how slavery changed across regions and generations.
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations” connects historical policy to modern outcomes.
That’s the link: self-teaching builds the ability to learn what matters, not just what’s easy.
8) Quick fun montage: weird learning still counts
Okay. How about
Sometimes you learn for a job. Sometimes you learn for health. Sometimes you learn because curiosity makes life brighter.
Yes, you can learn Klingon on Duolingo. https://www.duolingo.com/course/tlh/en/Learn-Klingon
And the Klingon Language Institute exists, takes Klingon seriously, and even offers community resources around the language. https://www.kli.org/
Do you need Klingon for your résumé? Probably not.
But “joy learning” still does honest work. It keeps novelty alive. It rewards persistence. It reminds your brain that newness is not a threat. It’s a playground.
And honestly, learning something delightfully strange is sometimes the easiest way to keep the habit alive, which then supports everything else you’re trying to do.
I’m going to end with five points you can carry into the week:
- Self-taught is a capability, not a label. It builds self-reliance that you can reuse in every area of life.
- Learning supports brain health across the lifespan. Neuroplasticity persists, and continued education is associated with better cognitive outcomes over time.
- Learning can be visible and meaningful. Certificates help when you pair them with a clear sentence about what you can now do. It’s tangible proof that you are not going to rely on your old skill sets.
- Self-education can make you a better communicator and teach you empathy.
- Self-learning can give you fun things to do to impress others, like riding a unicycle or speaking Klingon.
And if you need a final nudge: it is completely acceptable to learn something practical, something ambitious, and something ridiculous all in the same month. The habit is the win.