Learning new skills is a great way to fill up your spare time. If you learn a skill that relates to your job then it can help make you better at what you do, which means you could get promoted or get a raise, and if you apply for a new job then your CV looks better. If you are just learning things for fun then you could find a great new hobby that you love, or find something you have a real talent for that you never knew about.
So the first step when I want to learn a new skill is always to find a good book to help me out. I wouldn’t say that books are the best way to learn a new skill, especially something physical like unicycle riding for instance, but what they are good for is gaining an insight into the subject and finding out what the learning process will be like if you do decide to carry on. For instance you might buy landscape painting books and then find out that landscapes are the hardest way to learn to paint, that saves you wasting money on a landscape painting course.
Once you have found a skill you want to learn and think you would be good at though, then the best way to learn it is from someone who has already mastered it. You can often find lessons at a local college during the evening in a huge variety of different things from pottery to dancing to sign language, and they are cheap too. So if you do see something you fancy learning, then grab a book off Amazon, then head down to your local college too and check if they have any courses available.
