One of the biggest problems in modern day life is that we’re all so busy. We get up, get ready for work, sit through a long commute and then finally reach the office. Then we spend several hours there, come home via the same commute, and before we know it we barely have any time for ourselves. The weekends are generally spent recovering from our ordeals and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to do much more outside of entertaining ourselves with games, music and television.
However, there are plenty of ways to learn a new skill or even pick up a new hobby even if you have a busy lifestyle. To help you out, here are some useful tips and things to consider.
Use your Commute
Commutes are pretty boring, but thanks to our laptops, tablets and phones, we can make the journey a little less boring. Using commutes to learn a new skill is nothing new, but thanks to technology, the ways we can do it have changed significantly. You can read eBooks about your favourite hobby when you’re travelling. There are plenty of digital magazine stands to purchase from, and some even offer subscription services that give you access to an almost unlimited range of books and magazines. One of the qualities of a successful entrepreneur is that they are constantly focused and learning new things, and using your commute (or any time when you’re not actively doing something) is one of the keys to maximising the knowledge you take in.
You can also use audiobooks to learn a skill. There are plenty of informative audiobooks out there and all you need are a decent pair of headphones and the audio files downloaded to your phone so you can listen to it whenever you want. You can also stream the audio directly from websites if you have good 4G coverage. If audiobooks are too formal for you, then you could always listen to specialised podcasts that relate to your interests. It’s a fantastic way to keep up with the latest news and to also pick up new skills that relate to your hobbies. Finally, you can also use apps on your phone to learn something. For instance, if you’re trying to learn a new language, then there are plenty of apps you can download that will challenge your knowledge on a regular basis to prevent you from forgetting things.
Immerse yourself
Another way to learn a skill with a busy lifestyle is to immerse yourself in it. If you want to learn a language, then watch shows in that language, try to read books in it and also listen to music from it. The more you immerse yourself in a country’s culture, the easier it will be to learn the language. Immersing yourself like this is easy even if you have a busy lifestyle. You can swap your favourite music playlists for music in another language, or you could even watch videos with subtitles during your commute.
For other skills, such as learning digital design, you can immerse yourself by getting involved with digital art communities. You can typically find a community for almost anything on Reddit. There will be lots of discussions, you’ll make plenty of friends and you may even have the opportunity to network with people who are more skilled than you at whatever you want to learn. Making friends and being able to converse about your common interests is a fantastic way to learn a skill when you’re tight on time, and it’s often an overlooked facet of learning something new. Far too many people think that sitting at home alone reading a book or watching a video is the only way to learn something in your own time, but you can learn a surprising amount from just conversing with people.
Targeted courses
In most traditional courses that are offered by universities and colleges, you typically have to study the foundation elements before moving on to something that is relevant to your interests. Unfortunately, this can take an incredibly long time to finish and, as a result, you may end up leaving the course because you feel like you’ve learned nothing of value.
This is when targeting your learning becomes the better choice. For instance, specialised educational services like Digital Class offer a wide range of courses for anyone interested in topics like WordPress training and SEO training. These subjects would typically need to be studied as part of a larger course, but by picking specialised courses for the topics that you’re actually interested in, you’ll pick up new skills faster and waste less time studying things that aren’t relevant to your interests or that you already know.
Learning Online
Online educational services are fantastic for learning a new skill the formal way. You don’t need to “attend” classes like a regular school and you can study a course at your own pace. You can learn many technical skills such as programming, SEO and even how to blog with WordPress, but there are also creative skills to learn such as Photoshop and web design. Online learning services usually have a fantastic selection of courses to choose from. Since you can study at your own pace, you don’t need to feel committed to a certain course and you can generally switch whenever you want to. If something doesn’t suit you, then there’s no need to stick with it or request a refund—you can simply open up another course that could interest you.
Most of these online services also enable you to learn on a laptop, tablet or even your smartphone. This gives you the ability to not only learn in your own time but wherever you are as long as you have an internet connection. Some courses, videos and training materials can even be downloaded so you always have access to them even when you’re low on mobile data or away from a stable internet connection. The cost of online learning is also significantly lower than formal educational institutes, which makes it convenient if you’re trying to stick to a budget. In most cases, the only commitment involved is a monthly or weekly fee. After that, you’re free to cancel at any time and you can learn as much as you can handle.
Some final words
Learning skills when you have a busy life will come down to how much you can squeeze in between your daily tasks. Whether it’s on your commute, during a work break or when you’re on the toilet, make time for the things you love. After all, if you’re committed to learning a skill or you’re passionate about something, you’re going to end up sacrificing less-important things for the sake of it. However, it’s important to not let that ruin your current lifestyle or overtake some of the more important things in your life.
