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Ok, so you’ve landed your apprenticeship, and you’re probably thinking, sweet, now I have someone to teach me everything I ever wanted to know about _____. While this may or may not be true, let’s take a second here to think about this.  In the end, who is really responsible for your learning and growth as an apprentice?  Your boss or you?  The truth is, no one can teach you anything, unless you’re actively working to learn.

The responsibly ultimately falls on your shoulders, if you want to learn a new skill, don’t just assume your employer will teach you everything.  Sometimes you have to be exploring what you really want to learn, finding questions to things you don’t know yet, and learning how to do things for yourself.

So, what should you do then to survive as an apprentice and excel in life?  The answer is, of course, practice.

The most important thing to remember, in doing anything, is practice.  I know we’ve all heard the phrase “practice, practice, practice,” about a thousand times in our lifetime, but the old cliche’ does seem to have some prudence to it.  If you want to be the best, or at least have enough confidence to handle any situation that may come your way, you must be prepared, and the best way to be ready for the curve-balls life throws you is to refine your skills.

Let’s take guitar playing for example, if you want to be the next John Butler, or Jimi Hendrix, chances are you’re not going to be born with incredible guitar playing skills.  Even these guitar gods, had to work hard to refine their skills and become known as the world’s best, and the same can be said for you.  If you hope to one day be a successful plumber, or carpenter, or electrician, or whatever, you need to practice your trade. If a friend needs help with a home improvement project, maybe lend your hand, head on over, and try to help them out.  In doing so you’ll be testing out your skills, discovering your weaknesses, and learning about things you can ask your employer to gain a deeper understanding.  Instead of watching that Underbelly marathon, maybe take some of that extra free time you have to test out what you know.

By actively working to polish and refine your apprentice skills, you’ll get a whole lot more out of your apprenticeship, and be better ready to face the world and any problems that come your way.

image by David Reid