In the world of alternative education, you are what you document. That’s why it’s so important to document the work that you do well.

Here are my favorite tips on how to document things thoroughly, so they can be an effective way to leverage the skills and knowledge that you have.

1) What do you document?
– While it’s best to document anything you’re learning; it’s easiest to document the things you’re excited about learning. Chances are if you are excited about learning it, someone else will be too. The people immediately around you may not share your excitement, but I promise someone somewhere on the internet will be just as excited as you!

2) How to document?
– While many people like to document through a blog post; it can be convenient to use youtube, twitter, medium, or Quora. Just pick a platform that makes it simple for you to steadily create content about other things you are learning.

3) How to document when you don’t have a ton of time?
– Make it a priority. If you don’t put time on the calendar you won’t get it done. List out your priorities and if you don’t have time; maybe you should assess where you’re spending your time. It’s like when you’re at the gym and the last set feels unachievable. When you push through and finish at the end of the day you feel stronger.

When it feels like you don’t have time and you make time, you’re finishing that last set. Every time you accomplish documenting something, you will feel stronger.

A few things to remember:
1) No new skill is too beginner.
– No matter how basic the skill may seem, everyone has to start somewhere. If you do a great job of walking through the beginner steps who knows, maybe you’ll end up creating the getting started guide.

2) People are only interested in your education experience until you have work experience. 
– Once you have work experience it doesn’t matter what credentials you have; it’s more about how you can applicably create value on the job. You will be asked questions directly related to your previous work experience, not your education.

3) Submit to have your work published on other platforms.
– It’s great to publish content, but if no one ever sees it, what exactly do you get? Well, not much. By finding out where your audience hangs out on the internet you can start submitting to appropriate publications which will help you get some traffic to your own website.