10 Tips To Embrace the Latest Technology

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Here are some tips for embracing change in technology and learning new things.

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Now I often hear from people that they don't like it when there are new changes to the Operating System they use or the software app that they use. Sometimes these changes may mean you need to learn new things in order to keep using the software or there are features that you need to learn how to use because they could be useful to you. Change in technology is inevitable. All of our devices use software and that software updates whether or not we buy a new device. So you're going to run into situations where you need to learn new things. It can be much better to think of this as a good thing. The opportunity to learn something new. To explore and to expand your horizons. But if you struggle with it here are some tips that may help you.

First, don't be afraid of the new! When software is changed it is done by professional software engineers and User Interface designers. It is not like you're wandering through the forest and you turn the corner and anything can be there. The changes have been well thought out and they know that they are going to be new to everybody. So they have intentionally made these changes in such a way to help people learn to use them. Keep that in mind when you see something is new and don't be afraid to move forward to learn how to use that new feature. 

My second tip is to learn how to explore in order to learn things. Not everything is going to be thrown right in front of you as this is a new feature and here's how to use it.  Long time Mac users and experts know to, for instance, explore the menus in an app. See what is there. See what is new and if you find something that's new or just new to you try it out. If I select some text here and go to Format I've got all of these different options. I can explore these and try out new things. Also go into Settings for any app and look through all the different settings. Go into System Settings and then look through all of those and see what is there. Not everything is going to apply to you. But if you take the time to go through this then you'll probably find new things that you could use. This is exactly what Mac experts do. This is exactly what I do. When people ask me how do I know so much about using Macs and using all the apps it is because I explore them.

Next, remember to learn as your own pace. Some people can pickup things very quickly. Others will take a much longer time. Don't worry if instead of hours it takes days or weeks to learn something new. Sometimes a slower learning process can lead to greater mastery. Don't be intimated by experts that seem to be able to pickup things very quickly. Everybody learns different things at a different pace. You may pickup somethings quickly and other things may take some time. That's perfectly fine and normal. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. One thing that almost all apps have in common is the Undo function. You can get to it in the Edit, Undo or just Command Z. So if you go and make a mistake, like say I want to make this a different color and I choose a bad color there I don't have to worry about how do I now proceed. I can just go and use Edit, Undo or Command Z to go back. You can go back several steps. It's often said that making mistakes is the best way to learn. I think that is very true when it comes to using software. After all the only way to completely avoid making mistakes is only do things when you're absolutely certain it will do exactly what you want. But without experimentation you are not really going to learn anything new. So learn to embrace making mistakes and using Undo to go back steps. 

Along those same lines learn to experiment using sample documents or creating sample items. For instance if you want to learn how to use Keynote the way to do it is not to wait until you need to make a presentation. It's to play around and create a sample presentation. Just go in, create a basic presentation, try adding things, add shapes, add images, add animation, play around with styles and colors and all of that. Just create a sample document. Then delete it. Then create another sample document and then delete it. This is the best way to learn things. Not by creating the things you need to make but by experimenting. This is true for smaller items as well. For instance if you've never created a calendar event that gives you a Notification, go ahead and create one, set it for five minutes from now. Create the entire event and then wait those 5 minutes and see what happens. In the Contacts App create a sample contact. Go into Edit. See all the different things you can do with the contacts and all the different fields that you can add. Play around with it and then just delete it when you're done or keep it around as a playground that you can use to experiment with later on. 

Now even if you embrace all these ideas you can still get frustrated when trying to learn something new. It's important to remember to take breaks. Even an expert like myself will do it. Recently when switching from other languages to using Swift I learned Swift pretty quickly over the matter of a week or two. But I still remembered that when I got frustrated to take a break, take a walk, wait until the next day and then get back to it. Don't keep trying to push through the frustration as that is just going to make it harder to learn.

Be aware of your own biases and try to fight against them. For instance if you used Excel a lot over your career you may have a bias against Numbers. You may have decided that Numbers isn't going to be as good as Excel and then you simply don't use Numbers. Try to be your own devil's advocate. Open up Numbers, create a sample document, and go with the idea that maybe Numbers has some value to it and could be useful in addition to or instead of Excel. 

Think about where else you are biased. What features of macOS or your iPhone do you avoid because you think it is not as good as some other app or some other way of doing it. At least try going against your own bias to see if maybe there is something there that you've been missing. 

Also think about where you have inherited other people's biases. For instance maybe you've heard over and over again that the Mail App on your Mac isn't as good as other mail apps are using web-based mail. But isn't that the case. Millions of people use Mail and Apple keeps improving it with every version of macOS so there must be something to it. Maybe think about where the bias comes from. It could just be something you've been shown or something that you read at some point and try to fight against that. Experiment and play around with the app or technique that you've been avoiding.

With that said not everything is going to be for you. That's okay. macOS and the iPhone and iPad include lots of different apps and different techniques and they are not going to apply to every single person. So it is okay to see an app, like for instance, Freeform is an app that a lot of people recently have fallen in love with. But maybe you play around with it and you don't see the point. You don't actually have a use for it. That's okay. There are plenty of people that use and rely on spreadsheets everyday. There are also plenty of people that never ever need to open up a spreadsheet at all. It just doesn't apply to them. So by all means experiment and explore as much as you possibly can but it is okay, after seeing something, you realize that you may not have a use for it. Or maybe you don't have a use for it right now but it still can be useful to know about it and what it can do. But it doesn't mean you now have to use it for something in your everyday life.

Finally, enjoy exploring and learning new things on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad by setting aside time to do just that. The best time to learn something is when you don't really need to use it right now. So play around with Numbers. Play around with Keynote. Play around with GarageBand and iMovie and take the time to just learn those things when there is no pressure. When you have no specific task you need to do. When there is no deadline.One way to do that is to use videos like mine. A lot of people get my videos because they need to do something. They search and they find one of my videos. But other people actually just see the videos as they come out and they watch them and maybe play around with whatever it is I'm talking about right there and then even if they don't have a specific task that they need to do right now. If you find that you've been frustrated with learning new things it could be because you're waiting to learn them until you need them. Instead, learn to use these new things just on your own time when there is no pressure. 

So remember that our devices like our Macs, iPhones, and iPads are truly marvels of the modern world. Just a few decades ago having things like this was impossible no matter how much money you had. But now so many people can have these devices and do amazing things with them take the time to think about how great that is and how it can make working more efficient and unleash your creativity. When there is a change or new feature think of how that is an opportunity to explore and learn something new. 

I hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.