Learning The Hard Way
Are you banging your head against the wall? Can't figure something out?
I am not one to ask for help UNTIL I have banged my head against the wall and have tried every way I can think of to figure it out on my own. I don't like to bother people with little things, that I should be able to figure out. .
When you banging your head, if you take a step back ~~ often time there is a door or a window.
~ Training
~ Classes
~ Search Bar
There is almost ALWAYS an answer if you stop banging your head and digging a hole, and look around.
I sometimes have tunnel vision and think I have to do each step exactly as it is laid out, which in theory is true.
BUT there is a big BUT, if you just aren't getting it, and you are stuck, feeling discouraged and really annoyed .... step away from the computer, resist the urge to throw it out the window... and go look for Training, a class, or use the search bar. More times than not, someone else has had the same problem, has been stuck at the same point in the Training, etc.
Look at it in a different way, try changing things up, and maybe put it aside for a while if it is a post that just won't come together. If it's Training, and you are Premium or Premium Plus, try looking under the CLASSES tab and find Training.
I have recently done this, I was stuck on the Block Editor, I hated it and we had some battles. I couldn't figure out how to even make spaces between my paragraphs, or anything else for that matter.
I found an old training by Jay's ( magistudio), it was years old, but it was still good, and I learned a few tricks from there that got me UNSTUCK with the stupid block editor. Funny how it is stupid when we can't figure out how to use it. Well anyway, once I got unstuck there, I was chatting on Live Chat ( where else would have I been, I don't know) but anyway, someone recommended GeneratePress documents. Between the Training ( thanks Jay) and the suggestion ( thanks to you too), I took the time to bang it out and got unstuck. Now that I am not stuck, it's not stupid anymore, I actually like it.
SiteContent also gave me some battles, I figured out
1. once you publish you can't edit it there anymore, you have to go to the WordPress back office.
2. The Templates are awesome, and if you haven't taken the time yet to check them out I recommend them.
3. The 1,000,000 images are very useful, for those of you that have time and creativity it may be easier to go take your own picture or go make it with Cavana or whatever, but for those like me who lack both the time and creativity to do it, these work out well.
4. It checks for spelling, grammar, etc, which any of you have seen me in chat, I need a lot of help with. My fingers have a mind of their own, and almost never sync with my brain.
5. It has other cool checkers as well.
I need lots of help so I also got Grammarly, which helps clean up my writing and catch the fact that I spell Affiliate wrong all the time. and I go with the Affilaite :/ thanks to Diane Scorpio for that one, I managed to spell it wrong throughout the whole post.
Got off track but, there was a point in there somewhere. When you are stuck don't keep banging your head against the wall, look for the door or the window. Looking things up for yourself is part of the learning process I think. Sure you can ask questions and get answers, but I for one like to go find something like GeneratePress docs and go there and see for myself, I get a lot more out of it that way, and it makes more sense when I see the process,
Take advantage of the CLASSES tab, when you are stuck watching a video related to what you are stuck on can help you figure out where that door/ window is.
Site Content has some great things, and some frustrating things, but all in all it does make writing content faster and more efficient ( Kyle has a great video on it)
The Search Bar is a great resource a lot of people don't know about or forget about.
When you ask a question in chat and someone puts up a link, they are getting it from the search bar. It's a great resource and one everyone can use.
The classes tab does have about 5 training for Starters that you can take advantage of as well.
I know we always say follow the Training and that holds true - but when you are seriously stuck, you can do related Training, I don't suggest you get way off track and start looking ahead of where you are. That is one of the things I think gets people tripped up the most, either flying through the Training or just jumping ahead. That is a pretty surefire way of getting lost and confused.
Anyway, I don't blog much on here. I don't want to just throw something up there that doesn't really have anything to do with anything.
So this is a lesson learned and some suggestions.
I have been with WA for 9 years except for being MIA here and there for health issues and surgeries. I have always found a way to keep up with my subscription and although things have gotten really tight I always have WA as a priority. Cutting back on things, sacrificing here and there, and just finding a way is something that I will continue to do.
I believe in WA, the process, and the Training, and I know that although I am not where I could be 9 years in, I am where I should be.
That's it, that's my blog. It could be months or years before I write another one. I won't waste your time or mine just throwing things up there to throw them up.
Thanks for reading, if you made it all the way through.
I look forward to any comments that say more than "Nice Post"
and I am always ready for any additional information or helpful hints to go with mine.
Until, next time,
Kerri (DIGGER 12 )
Recent Comments
17
I feel the same way, Kerri! I have often found things I needed answers to by what you did. Sometimes, I will also PM people here that I talk to regularly on the phone and we bounce ideas off each other, but by also reading the blog posts here, some excellent answers are given to member queries, and I take advantage of that! This was an excellent post that points out a lot the resources avaiable here that new members might have not even been aware of!
Thank you, my friend!
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff :-) that is also a great idea. I appreciate you taking the time to read and respond :-)
You're very welcome, Kerri! I never thought I would like the Block Editor, but since I have been working on my book promtion site, I feel that I have become somewhat adept with several aspects of it, but there is always something new to be learned about it on a daily basis. As with anything, the more we do, the more proficient that we become.
Jeff
I can relate to your frustrations I am fairly new and trying to copy and paste an image has been a challenge, I manage to copy and paste an image that I thought that I had crop, then the image was posted it was too large, also I don't know where to find the search bar
Hi in the top menu bar, to the right it's the magnifying glass click on that and the search bar will open up :-) Where are you copying an image from?
Very Nice Post hey! That was more than just saying nice post Kerri hehehehe
Well said Kerri we both know questions are great and we are always around to help those seeking answers.
However, one part you mentioned above is finding an answer or solution yourself first.
Sure getting an answer quickly be it to the community as a whole or in Live chat is great but often some are asking too many questions and not focusing on what they should be doing which is getting on with the training and creating content.
So many are skipping important areas and feel just by asking a question all their answers are solved.
We know that when creating content for our website research is needed and is one of the most important parts if we are to do well.
We go on various search engines and type in our question or seed term and look for the answers we are wanting to find to create or enhance our content. Even just to get ideas.
We are doing that work ourselves.
The same here and I totally agreed with you.
If you have a question then first go look for it yourself.
That is why we have that magnifying glass to click on and then put in our question or seed word for what we are looking for.
This is also a way to improve one ability to research what they are looking for,
It is no different from what we do for our content.
Seeking answers this way will help you develop your research abilities and get to think.
Just like you did with the block editor sure it may feel like we are banging our heads against the wall but persistence and wanting to get it resolved first yourself will help you become better at what you do.
Too many people are still seeking shortcuts and even some questions we have seen particularly in chat.
Sure asking a question is fine just try to find a solution yourself first and if your feel all avenues are exhausted then look again.
Asking a question without looking for answers yourself is just a lazy way out in most cases not all but in most cases.
Most often the answer is there in the training, in a blog post, and also in using that search box feature we have.
It is there for a purpose and one should start using it.
I remember when block editor came out and was using the classic editor I hated block editor and refused to use it until one day I said classic is definitely going and won't be supported anymore now might be a good time to get on with it and learn how to use the block editor
At first, I kept on using classic editors as most were doing and found I could change the post to block editor that was my quick way out.
Gradually I started to experiment the features block editor had got used to it and now I love it.
I then with all my website made sure all posts that we still in classic were converted to the block editor and now all are converted over I deleted the classic editor plugin and don't have a need for it.
This all comes to actually take action yourself first.
Learn how to do things yourself and only ask should you get totally stuck as a second resort.
So hopefully Kerri that covers the nice post aspect. Probably catch you later in Chat
Until then, take care be well, and thank you for all your kindness along the way.
Andre
Definitely more than a "Nice Post" lol, those drive me crazy. You get me, and always know where I am coming from. You always have great kernels of wisdom and are very generous with your time. I love our "chats" and hope to catch you later as well. Thanks for a awesome reply:-)
You may be one of the few who read my blogs, but you know what who cares :-) Thank you for taking the time to read and reply.
Always welcome Kerri you know you have my support and yes hopefully catch up later in chat
In the meantime be the wonderful self you are and always keep going forward.
Andre
Thank you, Kerri, never doubt yourself when writing your posts you have much to share and many can learn along the way.
Andre :) 🙏
Andre,
Thank you for clarifying that there is a difference between the classic and block editor. I thought they were one and the same.
This makes a lot of sense.
This is great to know; especially for us newbies.
Rachele
You are welcome Rachele when the classic editor was around it was simple and at the time effective and a lot of people including here in WA were not too keen on Block Editor originally it was called Gutenburg then change the name to block editor.
Many had the good old saying of if it ain't broken don't fix it
And yes it worked fine, simple to use and that was it.
Then came the block editor which did challenge the thinking but once you get stuck into learning it and there is much more to learn you will find so many more benefits to it that Classic simply could not give.
There are various pieces of training here that explain some of the extra features even with the free version of GeneratePress that one can use.
Classic Editor still works but soon it will be an unsupported plugin which may create issues later for those still using it.
I was one of them very reluctant to change but took the bullet, learn more, and more importantly applied what was given and on offer.
As I said before, I deleted the classic plugin after I converted it all to block which by the way was a simple procedure of a couple of clicks and that was it.
Here is a great posts that explains much of it when it first came out which helps to understand more The Block Editor (aka Gutenberg) also if you type either Gutenberg or block editor using the magnifying glass at the top you will get more posts and training up to the current ways.
Wishing you well and have a great week ahead.
Andre
Andre,
Thanks for all of this relevant information.
I will definitely check it out.
Rachele
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Digger,
What a fantastic post. You are right about what to do when you get stuck, banging your head up against the wall. I've been there and done that. Sometimes you hesitate to go in for help. But we are here to learn and part of learning is asking for help.
Lucky for us we have the training, classes and search to go to. Being overwhelmed is not the end of the world when you have all of the above options that you mentioned.
Great post, my friend!
Rachele
Thank you very much, yes I have lived and learned, I still have a couple of dents on my forehead :-)