Have you ever paid someone to fix something, then later realized you probably could’ve done it yourself with a ten-minute YouTube video and a little patience? I’ve done it plenty of times. Most of us have. The truth is, the answers to many everyday problems are already sitting in our pocket — on our phones.
We live in a time where you can learn almost anything for free: how to fix your car, build furniture, troubleshoot your computer, make your own medicine cabinet, or even 3D print a replacement part for something that broke. You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to start with a question: Why? How does it work? What’s really going on here?
When you start asking those questions — and really mean them — something shifts. You realize that most problems aren’t as complicated as they look. Big problems are usually just a bunch of smaller problems stacked together. Break them down, take them one at a time, and suddenly you’re solving things that once felt impossible.
AI, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, online forums — they’re like cheat codes for real life. If you use them intentionally, they can make you more capable, more confident, and a whole lot less dependent on spending money for every little thing. Learning becomes freedom — not the kind you find in textbooks, but the kind that lets you fix your own world.
You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to break things. And that’s okay. If you never make mistakes, you’re not pushing your limits or expanding your skills.
One thing I struggle with is perfectionism. I’ll leave a problem unsolved or a project unfinished because I know the end result won’t be perfect. When that happens, I try to ask myself: Will it get the job done? If the answer is yes, I move forward.
For example, I’d been wanting to build a large corner desk for my office. I had all these plans — I even mocked it up in SketchUp — but I kept stalling because I didn’t know how to make it “perfect.” Then I was watching the show SEAL Team, and in one episode they were working out of a building that looked like it was made mostly of 2x4s and plywood. Desks, tables, shelves — all simple, functional, and solid.
That sparked something. So I decided to just build the desk to get the job done. I used sanded plywood, 2x4s, and 2x2s. It didn’t go exactly as planned — I ended up improving the design as I built it — but now I have a 7-foot-long L-shaped desk that cost about $100. I sealed and finished the top to protect it; the rest is still rough, but it works. If I ever want to make it “perfect,” I can. But for now, it solves the problem of desk space for both my regular job and my personal projects.
You don’t have to know everything. You just have to be curious enough to want to know. Once you start seeing learning as a superpower, you realize that curiosity isn’t a distraction — it’s the engine that moves you forward.