I’ve posted a few times that personal accountability is crucial when learning a new skill. I wanted to explore what you can do if you need help prioritizing this between work, life, and family obligations.
Here are today’s 5 learning techniques. I will be posting more each week.
1. Set Clear Goals: Define what success looks like for you and break down the skill into manageable milestones. Examples would be building a website, getting 3000 followers, and posting 2 times a week.
2. Public Commitment: Share your intent to learn a new skill on social media or with friends/family. Public declarations can increase commitment. Examples would be to tell LinkedIn what you are up to and why. Tell your boss. Tell your mentor
3. Document Your Journey: Maintain a journal or blog about your learning process, challenges, and successes. This is the hard one for me. With all the planning and retros I operate every day, I should be a natural in my personal life at this. I just have to keep working on it!
4. Skill Buddy: Partner with someone who already knows the skill. For example, I am trying to prove I understand sales – the best person to partner with is the CRO. You could do some skill trading: “I’ll teach you product and tech if you teach me sales skills.”
5. Join a Learning Group: Online or offline, communities can offer support, resources, and motivation. I have never had a meetup or association meeting turn me away. Sign up for the finance, sales, or technology meetups and listen and learn.
Using these techniques at work
If this is a work skill you are learning, Most are available on corporate learning platforms like @Litmos. Ask your manager or L&D admin how best to use the “free to you” tools already in your company.
Quick reference card
What to do if you say “No time for this!”
Everyone has time. It just comes down to priorities. It only take a few minutes a day to start picking up a new skill. Read here for more tips on where to find the time. Read more:
https://techdadda.com/2023/10/04/find-time-to-learn/: 5 Learning Techniques