We’ve all heard of the need to continually learn. Life is learning. While some of us will continue to undertake long periods of learning (up to 3 years or more) there is also an appeal to undertake micro learning courses (1 -6 weeks). From a professional development perspective, especially in these challenging global times, online learning is more easily accessed when compared to face 2 face learning.
Due to social media platforms and the distractions that ensue, our concentration spans are reducing the more we technoference. Technofering is the interference of technology in our relationships, our careers, our work and in our daily lives.
Believe it or not, something we take for granted as daily background noise (an email swoosh or text ping) increases our suffering and decreases our well-being. This is not good for anyone’s career. If you want to continue to learn and need an empowering tip or two, here are five actions I’ve adopted to keep my learning, and probably my technoference, on track.
- Plan a learning ritual
Either the night before or early the next day,I plan my learning and decide on what it is I want to achieve as an outcome of that learning piece. I’ll either continue a micro course or identify new or current ways to build on my computer skills. I need to advance my Excel capability, for example. Planning ahead, creates continued awareness and recognition of my own capabilities and capacity as a continual learner.
2. Break it down
When completing a short course recently, I initially read the overview of the program and identified how, when and what assessments had to be completed over the 6 week period. I then broke each unit into blocks. Calculated how much time to spend on each unit, setting my plan and schedule. My goal was to complete the course earlier than the six week alloted time. I concentrated by efforts in 5-7 minute bursts, working my way through the course content until it was all completed.
3. Quick, short and sharp
To get a quick learning fix, I use brunch which provides me with two-minute learning bites. Every morning at 10.00am (2nd coffee time) I receive a reminder to take a lesson. These are daily tips that remind me about different actions to take. Today, as I write this blog, the tip was to remember the “five whys”, a problem-solving tool developed in the 1930s by Toyota Industries founder, Sakichi Toyoda. For me, short sharp bursts mean messages are reinforced and transferable.
4. Monitor progress
Ongoing monitoring and continuous development via micro learning, short courses, on the job training and self-reflection is significantly important for anyonewanting to develop their career. It’s your own personal check-in. As a part of my own learning and development, I have engaged with any training/learning opportunity offered by my employers. Due to skill shortages, companies are continuing to offer learning sessions for their employees to improve their skills. Individually we can monitor our own progress, and the employer may also monitor the employees’ progress as predictions for workforce succession positions. In this manner based on your own monitoring, if a role emerges – you can say, “I’ve got some grounding in that area.”
5. Learn from mistakes and celebrate
I assume (but always prepared for my assumptions to be challenged) every reader has learnt from their mistakes, be it personal or professional. One lesson I always remember has to do with not saving the final version of a 5,000-word paper as part of my MBA studies. By starting all over again,) I learnt the hard lesson about continually saving documents – just in case auto save isn’t working. That second time around, I considered the paper was better than the first attempt. And, of course I celebrated when the mark came back as a Distinction. So yes, we all learn from our mistakes, but don’t forget to celebrate them too. It’s all a learning curve!
“Learn continually – there’s always ‘one more thing’ to learn!” – Steve Jobs.