My learning gap year

At the end of my first year of university, I was accused of cheating on my multivariable calculus exam, won my first startup pitching comp and started (and failed) a business with my friend.

So, logically, I decided to take a learning gap year.

My decision-making process

Learning.

Your values, goals, life experiences, and personal preferences are going to shape your decision-making process. But if you prioritise personal growth, have ambition, a thirst for knowledge, and want to figure out what sort of work you want to do, then this might apply to you.

I didn’t even consider taking a gap year before university because I thought it was a complete waste of time, or at least that's how I saw it. I find it hard to stay still and find energy in learning and building, and travelling the world didn’t seem to fulfil that.

If someone asks me whether they should take a gap year I ask “What are you going to actually be doing?” If you’re planning to learn and get work experience, then I’d say 100% go for it.

How did I structure the year

I don’t think it’s possible to perfectly plan a day let alone a year in advance.

Given my many interests, a growing list of hypotheses and (repeatedly) succumbing to artificial complexity, I couldn’t create nor follow a plan for the year.

A few things I knew for certain were: that I didn’t have clarity on what I wanted to do, the proven path made me cognitively dissonant and I found a lot of things interesting.

Instead, I followed a few guiding principles:

  1. Rapidly test hypotheses with action
  2. Lean into curiosity
  3. Have a bias toward experiential learning

At the start of the year, I wanted to learn to hold a 5-second planche, start a business, learn to mind map in my head, build a humanoid robot, and the list goes on. Some of these things I did, others are still on my to-do list and some things I couldn’t have predicted doing.

The defining thread throughout the year was to find what most excited me.

My key takeaways

  1. Courage breeds opportunity. I estimate 90% of the value from my gap year came from sending a cold DM or simply asking a question.
  2. Clarity proceeds action. You can’t test a hypothesis without running a test. When you’re 18/19 years old you have minimal to no life experience. Don’t expect yourself to know what you want to do in life.
  3. There are no adults. The people you admire don’t have everything figured out and are just as confused as you are.
  4. Be solid in vision, and flexible with the details.This mental model from Alex Brogan taught me to have a north star but remain open on the how.
  5. Lean into fear. If I fear something, it’s a sign I should be doing it.
  6. High agency is (probably) the most important personality trait. One of my favourite ideas I’ve come across. (George Mack)

What would I do differently

  1. Less thinking and more doing. There were multiple times where existential crises were solved with a little bit of action.
  2. Travel. I’d do at least one solo trip somewhere new. I undervalued the impact of travelling.
  3. Go to one in-person event a week.
  4. Talk to more strangers. I’m naturally introverted so I made an effort to meet more people but I should have done 10×.

Conclusion

Do I recommend a gap year and when should you take it?

If you’re like me I 100% recommend it. I think I benefited from doing a year of uni beforehand to give me some indication of the things I find interesting, mature my thinking and realise I didn’t have a plan. I wouldn’t have done at least half the things I did if I had done my gap year before university and I would learn more if I did it now.

If you think you know what you want to then maybe you should start university first.

If you know you don’t know what you want to do, then maybe try university first to see what it’s like.

Or, just take a gap year beforehand.

It’s a reversible decision so I wouldn’t spend much time finding the optimal solution and choosing a path. Most importantly, it’s never too late to take a learning gap year.