Learning a complex skill such as Python programming is hard, and in my experience, the quest for improving your skills never stops. The best way to succeed is to make a daily or weekly habit of working on your skills. In this lesson you’ll see some tips on how Real Python can help you with that.
If you’ve landed here on your own, you can also browse the full course library, newest first.
00:00 With any complex and complicated skill, such as Python programming—or any programming in any kind of language, for that matter—it helps a lot if you don’t let up and you keep going.
00:13 One of the best ways to do that is to build a habit. So, the way I envision Real Python for someone who is at an intermediate level or is not a total beginner, is really like a gym for Pythonistas.
00:28 It is a source of information where, even if you feel like you’ve covered all the basics and you’re a pretty good programmer, you can always come back to realpython.com, and every week we’ll have new stuff for you. It’s like another gym class.
00:43 And maybe you’re not interested in a particular topic, you know, maybe you don’t care about web development or data science or some other specific topic that we have a really deep article about it, but that’s totally fine.
00:55 Pick the stuff that you’re into and pick the stuff that you interested in and treat Real Python as your gym. We’ll keep you informed about the latest stuff that gets published on the website, the new courses that we put out, and just sample it.
01:08 Keep in touch with the latest changes in Python, the latest updates, and if you find something that’s interesting, then do a deep-dive and go back and try out all the other techniques.
01:19 This is a great strategy. If you build a habit and you check in, you know, at least once a week, maybe even every day. Maybe even make Real Python your homepage in your browser, if this is something where you just kind of naturally see it every time you open a new tab, this could be a great way for learning this stuff. I did that all the time when I was prepping for exams. I would set up my learning resources as my start page in the browser so that I would always see them. These days, I mostly use a weather widget or some kind of, you know, “This is what it looks like outside” widget in my new tabs, but this is actually a great hack that works.
01:58 And it seems stupid and so simple, but it’s actually something that works. So yeah, use Real Python as a way for you to stay up-to-date. By building a habit, you can overcome procrastination. If your habit is, you know, “Okay, I’m going to wake up, maybe I’m going to read the news for five minutes, ten minutes every morning, and I’m going to spend an equal amount of time on working on my Python programming skill”—this is going to have huge impacts.
02:23 Not within a day, not within a week, but within a month you’re going to see a huge effect, just priming your brain for this stuff. Even if it’s just a couple of minutes per day and just checking what’s out there, if there’s something that piques your interest, that’s a great way to improve your skills over time and to grow as a software developer. All right, so those were some tips on How to Learn Effectively and how to make the most of your Real Python subscription.
02:51 I hope they were helpful! If you’ve got some additional tips, leave them in the comments section below. I would love to hear what you’re thinking about this.
Mr B on July 29, 2023
Well, I’m here. If this is as good as you say it is then I’ll do the work, if I do the work, then I will learn how to write code. andif I will learn to understand code lingo, and end up coding for machines>> cause they don’t code themselves, then maybe I can do something usefull with those machines!
Stiabhna on Nov. 27, 2023
Great onboarding course. Great tips also for the Slack community! Thank you
jake on March 31, 2024
>>> print('Thank you')
Thank you
doink on May 13, 2024
Great on boarding. I was looking for how to improve a python program i made and landed in a RP article that explained me very clearly how to use threads, what’s GIL…, five minutes later i became a member. I’m so excited to go deep in Python. Thank you!
Dan Bader RP Team on June 5, 2024
Hey that’s awesome to hear, welcome aboard! 🙂
emmanuel on Dec. 19, 2024
Nice onboarding course … You may want to add to it that in addition to the community, comments, in depth articles and course … you have the podcasts (I have started to listen to a couple of them), you also have the AI tool/code mentor for helping with a topic and you also have the bootcamp (i just received a note about it). Cheers,
Phil on Feb. 7, 2025
Terrific onboarding course!
I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of material that Real Python offers, but after completing the course I know exactly where I’m going to start my Python learning journey.
See you on the Real Python Community Slack very soon ❤️
Paramjot Singh on Nov. 20, 2025
Thanks Dan for very nice walkthrough to everything Real Python has to offer. Excited to learn from the community. Cheers!
Anonymous on Aug. 24, 2026
Thanks Dan for the walkthroughs of everything that Real Python has to offer. I am excited to start learning Python.
Become a Member to join the conversation.
Get a Python Cheat Sheet (PDF) and learn the basics of Python, like working with data types, dictionaries, lists, and Python functions:
Rahul Pandey on June 10, 2023
Greate on boarding!