Online training courses offer a superb opportunity to boost your professional development. However, finding the time to complete your training course is tough when you’re juggling work and non-work responsibilities.
Not organising your time well enough can put you under real strain and make other areas of your job more complicated, and when you’ve invested in an accredited course, you also really want to make the most of your investment.
We want you to enjoy your online training course, not feel stressed, which is why we’ve compiled these study tips to help you organise yourself effectively when you’re training online. They’ll help you to stay on track, complete your training successfully and get the best out of it.
Make your training course a priority
Training is one of those activities people push to the back of the queue or just never get round to. Eventually, this leads to ineffectiveness, guilt, and stress.
Once you’ve chosen a training course, make completing it a priority. You’ll work through it effectively, rather than be forced to go back all the way through the course. Complete the necessary reading. Participate in all the discussions. Perform the activities you have to.
The benefit: you’ll complete the course on time instead of dragging it out. You’ll also reduce stress while studying and become more effective at performing your duties.
Create your own training plan
Performing an activity regularly makes you more effective. In this context, that means blocking out specific times in your schedule for productive study. Figure out which weeks look busy and how you’ll schedule your study time. You might study for a whole day each week. You might study for an hour a day or study every afternoon.
Scheduling regular study time will give your training plan a structure. Defend these times and you’ll progress through the course without feeling stressed.
The benefit: you have a structure in place and eliminate stress so you can study effectively
Set goals and objectives
Setting goals is important to achieve things. Goals give you focus and help you to keep moving forward.
Your ultimate aim is to complete the course successfully. To accomplish this, you can set yourself personal deadlines, such as completing modules or assignments by specific dates.
Establishing goals requires commitment. The goals should be ambitious but realistic, forcing you to ‘think big’ to accomplish them.
The benefit: you’ll move forward and enjoy a sense of accomplishment.
Remove distractions
Today, we’re battling against distractions constantly: phone calls, social media notifications, email notifications, people knocking at the door, and more. A family member might even just walk into the room and strike up a conversation while we’re studying.
You might think it does no harm to quickly respond and then get back to studying. Switching between tasks, however, extends the time it takes to complete a task, and it has more impact than you think. If you switch a lot between tasks during a day, you can sacrifice up to as much as 40% of your productivity.
Remove every distraction possible when you’re about to study. Close your email. Turn off your phone. Close your office door. Consider choosing a time when it’s quieter and distractions are reduced to a minimum, such as late at night. This concentrated time will allow you to achieve more.
The benefit: you can focus easier and study better.
Ask for help
Online training courses allow us to juggle our different commitments much easier. That’s the beauty of them. If you’re not sure how you’re going to find the time to study, however, ask your colleagues or course facilitator for help. Asking how others are managing their time can put you quickly back on track. It also shows commitment.
Remember that some tasks are more important or more urgent than others. Learn to prioritise tasks effectively, which you can do by implementing the Eisenhower priority matrix or an action priority matrix. You could also chat to your superior (if you have one) and discuss the situation with them. They may re-assign some of your tasks to others on your team so you can complete your training.
The benefit: you use teamwork to get things done and can focus on your training without feeling as stressed about fulfilling your other responsibilities.
Train online with In Professional Development
We offer a variety of online training courses and programmes in leadership, coaching and mentoring, sales, finance, project management and more, to help you build and improve the skills and knowledge you need to succeed.
You can join us from wherever you are in our virtual classrooms or book for in-house training, and study in the way that suits you. Our expert course facilitators will guide you throughout the course so you can get the most out of your training.
At the end of your course, you’ll receive a certificate, continuous personal development (CPD) points or other recognition of your training with us.
We’re here to support you in your professional development. To find out more about our course, visit our Course Page, email us at enquiries@inpd.co.uk or fill in the form on our Contact Page. If you’d like to speak to someone directly, just give us a call on 0161 826 3139.
