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Your learning resolutions for 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:22

The beginning of the year is the time to make resolutions that will start you off on a good foot and ensure that 2012 is your best year to date. If you’re not sure what you want to achieve – or even if you have a few goals in mind – consider adding continuous learning to your list of goals.

1. Read more

If there’s only one change that you make in your life in 2012, make sure it’s this one – read more. Make a conscious effort to fill your downtime moments with books, magazines, blog articles and newspapers – whatever you enjoy – instead of watching TV or aimlessly browsing Facebook. Reading stimulates your brain and fills it with new knowledge, insights, ideas and views. Try branching out into new media and genres that you’re unfamiliar with. As an alternative, download some audiobooks or interesting podcasts to listen to while in the car or at the gym.

2. Learn one new hobby

Everybody has that one hobby that they’ve always aspired to, but never actively pursued. Whether it’s drawing, writing, knitting, studying a language or playing an instrument, learning something new awakens the brain, reduces stress and ensures that you have more fun in your free time – not to mention the confidence boost you get when you serve your first soufflι or play a full song on a guitar.

3. Take one professional skills course

Every working professional can list a few business skills that they could do with, but don’t have. Abilities like balancing the books, writing a proposal, delivering a public presentation or operating certain software packages are valuable to almost anyone. This year, critically evaluate which skills you’re lacking, or what gaps in your knowledge are holding your career back, and do something about it. Take an after-hours professional skills course to boost your abilities – and your salary.

4. Attend a conference

Almost every industry, hobby or interest has a conference of some kind every year – and it’s amazing what you can learn by attending one of these. Conferences usually have presentations, speeches and panels by leading people in the field, and these are excellent places to pick up new knowledge, get inspired and make connections for future. Whether you go to a cooking presentation at the Food and Wine show, a digital media talk at the Design Indaba or a seminar on environmental impact at the African Mining Indaba, make it your goal to attend at least one conference this year where you can learn something new.

5. Join a community

Finally, learning in isolation can be lonely, difficult and unfulfilling for some, so consider joining a like-minded community of people so that you can share your insights, struggles and lessons learned. This community can meet up in the real world (like a business support group or art class) or online (there are hundreds of websites and forums devoted to every hobby and profession you can imagine).

Whichever you choose, you will quickly find that interacting actively both by sharing and absorbing information – will increase your learning by leaps and bounds. Consider a course with GetSmarter and the University of Cape Town. Contact Amy Jane on 021 447 7565 or amyjane@getsmarter.co.za for more information on GetSmarter courses.