The Question
There was a time when I participated in a Q&A session. I don’t want to explicitly state what kind of session it was, but you can probably guess.
During the session, someone asked me, “What’s the new thing you’ve learned recently?”
Hearing this, my first reaction was shock. My job at the time was physically demanding, requiring me to work in a fast-paced environment, handle numerous complex and trivial tasks in a limited time, and operate with limited breaks during long work hours. By the time I got home, I was so exhausted that I would enter a semi-conscious state for about an hour before regaining some energy.
If your brain is tired, you might think about exercising to relax. But if your body is exhausted, you’re unlikely to want to engage your brain as a way to “relax.” When your body reaches extreme fatigue, your mind follows suit and shuts down. In my situation, did I really have the energy to actively learn something new?
Even with the short time I had to think about my answer, I tried my best to come up with something.
Would soft skills like multitasking and time management count? My job had certainly pushed me to develop those, and I had become quite good at them. But I felt like the person was asking about something more specific—something tangible, rather than an abstract skill.
I kept thinking. Well, no matter how tired I was, I had managed to keep up with one thing: working out. Looking back, I have no idea how I did it. Even in that state of exhaustion, I still worked out two to three times a week. But wait—he asked about something “new.” Exercise wasn’t new for me; it had been part of my routine for a long time.
What about learning to drive? In my free time, I took lessons with an instructor, passed my driving test on the first attempt within a month, and even bought my car outright—paid in full with the money I earned through real hard work and careful budgeting, without any financial help from anyone. I was proud of that. But then I hesitated—driving is a life necessity, not an optional skill. It probably didn’t fit the question either.
I also played video games occasionally to relax. A new fighting game had been released recently, and I had learned how to play a new character. Even though it was just a game, understanding the mechanics and strategies involved some level of learning, right? But I was sure that wasn’t the kind of answer they were looking for.
Then, I remembered something that truly fit: learning to build websites. Because of my university background, I had an easier time understanding how to read and write code, including edit other people’s code or writing my own code. Despite my packed schedule, I still managed to spend over ten hours a week on it whenever possible. I was genuinely interested in it. That would have been a perfect answer.
But unfortunately, I couldn’t say that—because the entire context of the Q&A revolved around website creation. I won’t go into details, but you can probably guess why that answer wouldn’t work.
Between all of those, plus household chores, and simply recovering my energy—my time was completely occupied. How was I supposed to learn something new on top of all that?
At that moment, I found the question utterly ridiculous. Did they assume everyone had an abundance of free time? That just because they did, everyone else must as well?
In the end, I simply answered:
“My job is extremely demanding, both physically and mentally. By the time I finish work, I need to rest and recover, so I don’t really have the extra energy to actively learn something new.”
Why Ask?
Why ask such a ridiculous question?
Before I continue, let me clarify—I’m not saying the person who asked was stupid. In fact, compared to others I’ve encountered in similar Q&A situations, he was actually very polite and kind. So when I say “ridiculous,” I’m referring to the question itself, not the person asking it.
Later on, I looked it up. Apparently, the purpose of this question is to gauge whether someone is curious, whether they actively seek to learn new things and improve their skills.
Even knowing that, I still find it a ridiculous question to ask someone like me at that time. Not everyone has the luxury of free time. Not every job allows you to still have mental energy left for self-improvement at the end of the day. Maybe the question was aimed at people with decent, more comfortable jobs, not someone like me.
But over time, I started rethinking about this question.
At some point, I realized I couldn’t even remember the last time I had learned something new.
It wasn’t that I lacked curiosity. In fact, I used to dream about learning all kinds of things that interested me, things I had never tried before.
So why had I completely forgotten about that part of myself for a certain period of time?