Seven Ways to Make Time for Learning Every Day

The ability to learn is arguably the most important skill for human beings to develop.?Futurist Heather McGowan ?argues that the rate of technological and demographic change means that we need to learn – not to mention unlearn – at spectacular rates. For me, time, or the lack of it, is the greatest barrier to learning new things (let alone mastering the ability to learn). It’s the same barrier for many of the learners across my organization (and yours, too). And yet?the science is clear ?that we need to learn more stuff than ever before in the history of everything. Here are seven ways to make time for learning so that you can have the ideas, skills and credibility to lead the future of work in your community.

Find motivation

Learning is a learned behaviour . We can all do it. Start making time for learning by beginning with a topic – any topic – that?“lights you up” and ignites your purpose . If the intrinsic motivation to learn something new is a bit elusive then get practical. About a year ago I needed to re-seal a toilet, so I watched a YouTube video (digital/classroom learning), called my dad (mentoring/coaching), and then tested what I learned (experiential). No flooding! My colleague Colin found his motivation to learn about MailChimp, in part, because of his passion for embedding coaching into our organizational culture, which requires us to re-imagine how we share information with our community of coaches. So he took a course in service of the need. Think about a need you can serve by learning something new and harness the motivation to do it!

What’s motivating you to learn something new?

Start small

Thinking of learning as a degree, diploma or certificate-earning-workshop is exciting, but it can also feel a little overwhelming. I can’t imagine fitting a Masters program into my life right now, but I can imagine reading a book or some articles about co-operatives and exploring a few relevant massive open online courses (MOOCS) about leading social impact. The greatest innovators start small and then scale-up their learning, according to?Forbes’s Chunka Mui: ?“rather than jumping on the bandwagon for one potentially big product, they break the idea down into smaller pieces for testing… They defer important decisions until they have real data.”

Think of your learning journey in a similar way. Rather than waiting for a Masters of Education or Evaluation Diploma program to start in the Fall, I took a short online course on learning evaluation to meet a specific need and tested my knowledge on that particular project. Small, simple and fast.

What’s something really simple that you can learn in 10 minutes or less?

Create buy-in

No matter how simple or micro you make your learning journey it will impact people. One of the greatest risks to developing your own ability to learn and creating a learning culture in your community is the perception that investing in learning takes away from what you’re producing or the value you’re already adding. Two hours of LinkedIn Learning on digital facilitation means two hours?not?researching, analyzing or facilitating in the analog world. A Masters program means less time with family. Your stakeholders’ opinions will impact your learning journey, so you’d?better know how to engage them well .

HBR’s Rachael O’Meara recommends ?that you create a vision statement that can answer this question: “who will I become as a result of this investment of my time and resources?” A thoughtful and clear answer to this question will not only inspire your boss or family members, but it will probably motivate you to get started, too!

Who are the people that need to learn about your learning? How will you talk to them about it? When will this happen?

Make time

As lead of organizational development and learning at Vancity Credit Union as well as a futurist deeply interested in the world of work, I know that blocking off time for learning – like 10-20% of our time – will simultaneously prepare us for the next, next big thing?and?force people to be more efficient and productive. The majority of my peers do not share my perspective and I’m also pretty biased in my approach, to be honest. What this means for you is that the most important thing to do is make?some time?for learning – start with?time blocks ?of 30-to-90 minutes per week for four weeks and see what happens.

Time blocks, argues?Fast Company’s Gwen Moran , are more effective than to-do lists because they force you to put what needs to be done in the proper place for the right amount of time:

Time-blocking is essentially organizing your day in a series of time slots. Instead of writing a list of tasks that take as long as they take, with a time-blocked approach, each of these time periods is devoted to a task or tasks. It immediately lets you see where you’re being unrealistic about your time and keep yourself focused on what you’re supposed to be doing.

Also realize that you can learn?so much?through every day tasks, but only if you take a little bit of time to reflect on the experience – so carve out time, even if it’s two minutes, to turn your work into learning experiences every day.

How will you create learning time blocks in your schedule?

Find space

Our workspaces create habits for us. When I stand at my desk I think less about deep thinking and learning experiences and more about meetings, email, project plans, and coaching teammates. Changing your environment can shift your perspective and open your mind to formal and informal learning, like mobile-accessible courses or talking to members about what they’d want to learn from their co-operative. Where you learn should be beautiful, so check out?my article about Kilowatt , a co-working space, and get inspired about finding or creating the right environment for you to learn.

Where will you do your best learning?

Be disciplined

Following through with learning, especially formal learning, is hard. Most employees don’t follow through with learning experiences because?they aren’t fun, aren’t relevant ?and no one is holding them accountable to finish. You will require unbreakable self-discipline (or something approaching it) to follow-through with your commitment to learning. One of the greatest obstacles to completing anything, according to?Lifehack’s Max Weigand , is the path of least resistance: “If you choose what is fun and easy over what is necessary, you will never reach the levels of success and happiness you are capable of achieving in your life.”

Find the right balance between what is fun – because learning should be fun – and what will give you the most lift in your work life.

What habits do you need to create in order to complete this learning path?

Show?Share the value

The saying goes that we don’t learn from experiences, but we do learn when we reflect on experiences. The first person to whom you need to show the value of your learning journey is yourself. An easy way to do this is through journaling about what you learned from the experience. You should also be able to demonstrate pretty quickly to your manager how you are applying what you learned – a colleague of mine, Ilene, is literally putting into practice her recently acquired instructional design skills to show the value of the experience. Google activates a network of employees called?“g2g” (Googler-to-Googler) ?to share learnings:

At Google, 80% of all tracked trainings are run through an employee-to-employee network called “g2g” (Googler-to-Googler). This volunteer teaching network of over 6,000 Google employees dedicate a portion of their time to helping their peers learn and grow. Volunteers — known internally as “g2g’ers” — can participate in a variety of ways, such as teaching courses, providing 1:1 mentoring, and designing learning materials, and they come from every department of Google.

One of the best ways to embed knowledge and to make yourself?unconsciously skilled ?is to teach others how something is done. Consider showing value by bringing a colleague along the journey with you.

How are the outcomes achieved on your learning journey adding value to your community?

—

This article was originally published on ThePotentiality.com, August 15, 2018