Creating your lifelong learning path

A growth mindset and continuous learning are among the top sought after skills by recruiters in 2021. Get inspired to create your own lifelong learning journey today. 

From a stage under a leaking roof in North Dublin

So there I was… speaking on a small stage in front of an audience of exactly one person, in a run down building (with a leaking roof) in an industrial area on the north side of Dublin. It was a few years ago, and I had decided to become a fantastic public speaker. I’d signed up for a public speaking coaching series with an actor at a small theatre company in Dublin. He got me to watch Obama’s (Michelle, of course!) speeches on YouTube over and over again; helped me get rid of filler words; taught me to use my voice to create engagement; encouraged me to not be afraid of being creative in front of an audience; and taught me to focus on the audience, instead of my insecurities.

Making continuous learning part of life

So how did I end up taking that course in the first place? I’d recently changed roles internally at my company. I went from having very few speaking engagements, to having to present in front of different audiences on a weekly basis. This is how public speaking suddenly became a very important part of my job. Fortunately, I had already overcome my worst fears of public speaking back when I was leading different organizations in University. But speaking publicly is still a bit of an insecurity for me. And I always want to improve and become better at my job.

As this public speaking course was the first, outside mandatory work trainings, that I’d done since I’d graduated from University; it became something more. It helped me realise how much I was craving to learn and grow. Since then, lifelong learning has become an important part of my career and life. I’ve studied to become a certified coach, I’ve taken different leadership and project management courses, and I continue to identify different areas where I want to grow.

Creating your learning path

According to the Forbes Human resources Council, a growth mindset and continuous learning are among the top skills recruiters are looking for in 2021. With the world changing quicker than ever before, our jobs will continue to change and require us to adapt to new realities. Therefore, I think we can all benefit from creating a lifelong learning path for ourselves that excites us and helps us fulfill our career goals. There are 3 main factors that I think are important to consider when creating your learning path.

3 questions to ask yourself:

• What do you want to achieve? Consider why you are creating a learning journey. Is it to become better at your current job, seek out the next opportunity or completely change your career? Is there someone who is where you would like to be that you could ask for advice? How committed are you to this and what is a realistic timeline for you? If you are looking for a complete change of careers, maybe studying for a new degree is your best option, but also remember that a lot of skills are transferable, and continuous learning options can help you make pivots as well. Once you have this clear you can start to map out what your current gaps are, what types of skills are required, and create space for learning in your life.
• What makes you excited? There is a whole world for us to explore, and many skills that could help us, so start with something that makes you excited, and that you feel can really help you.
• Create space for learning in your life Sometimes starting small can make things a whole lot easier. Ask yourself if you could start by finding just 20 minutes, 2 days a week for learning? And next week, could you find 20 minutes 4 days a week?

Tips for getting access to learning resources

Education can often be a big investment, but it doesn’t have to be. If you are looking for a radical change in life, and you have the opportunity; then maybe a bigger investment in education, for example an MBA, is the right step for you. But there are a lot of other things you can do to access learning resources. Once you have clarity around what type of lifelong learning path you want to create for yourself, here are a few things to consider:

• Free courses: If you are not looking for a degree or need certain certifications, there are a lot of free courses out there. Many universities now have a catalogue of free courses (See for example the catalogue from Harvard here), and in many cases you can get a certificate of completion for a smaller fee. There are also other companies and institutions making courses available and accessible for everyone, one example of this is the Google Digital Garage
• Company access: Do check out if your employer has access to any learning platforms. Many companies would have a subscription to for example LinkedIn Learning available for their employees.
• Perks: Is there an opportunity for you to get the cost of a course fully or partly covered by your employer, if it is relevant for your job? Given the broad range of skills needed for jobs today, your employer may be willing to support more courses than you think. Maybe there are courses relevant to your whole team and you could do it together?

Keep learning, and remember that the only thing that is constant is change!