“The energy or active exercise of the mind constitutes life” – Aristotle.
As the year 2020 draws to an end, many of us are yearning for the Christmas and New Year break. A time to reflect, recoup, and look forward towards the year ahead. During this period when most of us get time away from work or university, we all intend to put this time off to good use – but it’s not always easy. As we look forward to 2021, it’s important to look at what our goals will be, both professionally and personally, and keeping our minds active over the break will provide a great start to these objectives.
To help, we’ve put together a few ways to keep help you keep your mind active and to keep learning over Christmas.
1 – Set a Learning Goal
Take time to look at what you want to achieve for yourself over the break. It could be working on that online training course you didn’t get to in December, learning to paint, or perfecting how to ask for a coffee and croissant in French.
Your learning goal is specific to you. Keep it simple and keep it fun. Write your goal out stick it somewhere you can see it, so each day you’re reminded of what you’re working towards.
2 – Create a schedule
When you’re in holiday mode it’s easy to lose track of the hours and days – before you know it – BAM! it’s the New Year and you’re back at work. Allocating time towards your goal will allow you to balance your learning with the festivities and celebrations.
3 – Take things step by step
Don’t overwhelm yourself by cramming everything you want to achieve into one whole day. Remember – it’s the holidays! Split into steps so you can do a little bit here and there. If sitting down for a solid hour of learning isn’t working for you, try 10 minutes at breakfast, lunch, and at dinner.
4 – Get Your Work Mates Involved
Talk to your friends in the office and share your learning goals with them. If your workplace has a culture built around learning and development, you’ll find that they will be your biggest support. Create goals together and share your progress when you return to work.
5 – Reward the hard work
CELEBRATE the wins and accomplishments, no matter how small they are. Rewards recognise the work you have done and can keep you motivated to keep learning over Christmas.
One of the best things about life is that we never have to stop learning. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt.
To learn more about how dita Solutions can assist you in creating a culture of workplace learning in your business, start your free trial of dita Learning today.