The coronavirus crisis is going to force us all to spend a little more time in our own four walls. Whether you’re trying to work from home or are just gazing longingly at the outside world awaiting your chance to restart ‘normal life’, there’s probably going to be plenty of space in everyone’s schedule for a while to come.
In order to keep our minds sharp, it pays us all to try to find something productive to do with this time. If we can be positive and grasp the opportunity posed by the pausing of everyday activities, then we can use this to reboot our skills and prepare ourselves to come back even stronger from ‘lockdown’.
So, if you’re going to grasp the initiative and take the chance to brush up on your tech skills – or if you’re looking to encourage your employees to do so – how should you go about it?
Read more
We’ve probably all got books on our shelves or our wish lists that we’d love read ‘if we got the chance’. Now is the time to further your knowledge on specialist topics by brushing on the experts. Whether that’s pioneering works on the future of tech and AI or in depth works that help you to understand topics such as trading, there’s a wealth of reading material that’s crying out for you to catch up on.
Test yourself…and your kit
Think you know what you’re doing? Prove it. Now is the time to test your abilities and ensure you really are confident in using the hardware and software you rely on. Take an online qualification, prepare a ‘side hustle’ project using your skills or consider something new you can introduce to work and begin the groundwork. By testing what you can do, you’ll be able to identify any gaps – and take the opportunity to fill them.
This isn’t just about testing yourself either. So many of us barely scratch the surface when it comes to the full capability of the tech we use. It’s time to explore this a little further. Find out – and test – all of the functions of the things you use. There are all sorts of little tricks that many of us don’t know – but that could make our day-to-day lives simpler.
Online masterclasses
One of the joys of living in a tech-driven world is that there’s a wealth of knowledge that’s available for us all to tap into. There are talks from influential leaders and entrepreneurs, online classes led by experts and an endless supply of reading material from academics and key thinkers. Many resources such as this are now putting down their paywalls so that we can all do something worthwhile with the time we have. This marks an excellent opportunity for learning that would be a shame to pass up.
Ask lots of questions
Finally, don’t forget to ask lots of questions. The best learners are people who aren’t afraid to be inquisitive. There’s no such thing as a stupid question – don’t be shy. Use social media channels such as Twitter and LinkedIn to crowdsource the answers to any questions you have. You might even make some useful connections this way and find further learning materials and resources for the steps above.
With more reading, testing the limits of your knowledge and the capabilities of your tech, online learning and being proactive and asking lots of questions you can use your time wisely and brush up on your skills.
