What is on Your Skill Building Bucket List?

Did you ever wish you were better at doing something? What is on your skill building bucket list? What has stopped you from pursuing your interests? If it was never "the right time," maybe now is the right time. Stop procrastinating. When I was younger, talking to a friend about some adventure we were considering, the decision point was always based on the answer to the following question: When I am 60 years old sitting on the front porch in my rocking chair, will I say "I wish I had....?" If the answer was yes, I would pursue the opportunity. I did not want to live with any regrets.

• When I was in high school considering going to college, my mother asked me "Why would you want to do that? Why don't you stay home and become a secretary or teacher?" I did not want to stay home and I would not have made a good secretary or teacher. I have never been good at sitting still and I could not imagine teaching math (1+1 = 2) for 30 years! So, I went off to college and studied child development. But that was not enough for me. I also earned a Master's degree and a doctorate.

• When I was finishing my doctoral program, my major professor got very upset when he heard I was considering a job at a research consulting company in the Washington DC area instead of accepting a job as an assistant professor living in a small town surrounded by corn fields. He said if I took that job I would be "slitting my throat professionally." I took the job at the consulting company and stayed for nearly 30 years developing and evaluating adult learning programs.

  
  

• One of the companies I worked for was very conservative and operated in a paper-based world. With the advent of the Internet I told my boss I wanted to learn how to create computer-based training. My boss asked, "Why would you want to do that? That's a stupid idea." I pursued and earned a Multimedia Development Certificate from a local university.

  
  

• As I kept my eye on the horizon to see what new instructional techniques were gaining momentum, I could see that virtual learning was gaining popularity. I asked a vice president at the company I worked for if I could learn more about it and help the company bring in work. She said, "It's too risky." I found an opportunity to teach a couple of online courses and also took a course and got experience as a producer.

The skills I learned along the way are transferable to working with adults and children in a virtual environment. I am now very happy as a virtual writing tutor and trainer working with elementary and middle school students. Thanks to the certificate I earned to teach English to speakers of other languages, my skills are also transferable to teaching English as a foreign language to adults. In addition, I have been fortunate enough to apply the skills when working with adults with learning disabilities.

Do you have improving your writing skills or learning English as a second language on your bucket list? CStarsky is offering a limited number of "Free Tutoring" opportunities to hard working adults.

There are many different reasons to write. Depending on your target audience your writing style will be different. Technical reports will not look anything like letters to hiring officials. Persuasive letters to your senator look different than letters to grandma. Creative writing stories and newsletter articles will have different styles than other types of writing. CStarsky will customize tutoring sessions to meet your needs.

If English is not your first language and you want to improve your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills one-on-one tutoring or conversation groups might interest you. CStarsky also works offers American Accent Training for adults who want to improve their accent.

If you happen to have free time while we are all waiting for the Federal government shutdown to end, are voting age, and want to improve your writing or English as a speaker of another language, check out our tutoring services and "Contact Us" via the CStarsky Lifelong Learning website. We specialize in customizing tutoring to meet student needs. A minimum of five people will each be awarded five (5) FREE tutoring sessions (a $250 value). Simply use the Contact Us form to let us know your interests and desired schedule.

This offer is available until December 31, 2025 or while supplies last. After that date will you be saying,

"I wish I had done more of what was on my skill building bucket list"?