How to Keep Learning in the Workplace

When I was a teenager, I kept a long list of things I wanted to learn to do, or learn about. But as a chronic procrastinator, I never got around to it – not during university, not after graduating, and not even when I got my first job. 

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I got serious about learning – especially when I joined LottieFiles as a content writer, as I write content about topics that need lots of research. That’s when I found out that learning to learn was a skill on its own. 

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but here are a couple of things I’ve learned about how to keep learning in the workplace.

Get clear on why, what and how

Ask yourself:

• Why do you want to learn this?
• What does success look like? 
• How will you learn? 

This helps clarify the scope of your learning project, and how to actually pull it off.

For example, say you’re a product manager who wants to learn how to code. Your why could be because you want to be able to communicate better with your technical colleagues, your what could mean being proficient enough to create a simple web app that can save data, and your how could mean working through a web development course and building your first app. 

Set aside time

Set a specific time (and length) for learning. Maybe that’s 30 minutes before work starts, or after work ends, or right after cleaning up after dinner.

This is helpful for two reasons. First, it removes the psychological burden of planning to learn. When I don’t set a specific time, the intention to learn just becomes something I half-heartedly tell myself that I’ll do later after work…which turns into after dinner, which turns into tomorrow night, then next week, and then finally gets shelved into the mental cupboard of things that I intend to do “one day” but likely never will (along with “eat more vegetables” and “finally figure out what web3 means”).

Secondly, limiting yourself to a short length of time (say, 30 minutes) feels more attainable than having a vague, unspecified goal. And you’re more likely to start learning if it doesn’t feel like that much work. 

Can't put aside much time? Start small with 10 or 15 minutes. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up over time. Just 15 minutes every day adds up to 91.25 hours over a year - that's enough time to take a Udemy course or read several books on the topic. 

• 10 minutes a day = 60.83 hours a year
• 15 minutes a day = 91.25 hours a year
• 30 minutes a day = 182.5 hours a year

Reduce what doesn’t bring value

Alas, setting aside time to do stuff means…well, less time to do other stuff.

But that doesn’t mean you have to cut out things that bring you joy. Instead, consider if there’s anything you spend time on that doesn’t bring you value, or doesn’t leave you fulfilled. For me – and I suspect for you, too – that’s traffic jams. Fortunately, LottieFiles is a fully remote team, which means that we can work from anywhere. This saves an incredible amount of time. No elaborate morning rituals to get ready for work, no mandatory commutes, no sitting in traffic, and no pants (just kidding HR team, we definitely wear pants). 

If you can’t work remotely, consider if there are other ways you can cut out low-value activities. Write down all the activities you engage in over the course of the day, or use apps like RescueTime to see where your time is going. Cut down on what doesn’t bring joy, value or fulfillment. 

Find opportunities at work

We often think of ‘learning’ as something that happens after work, even if it happens to be career-related learning. But if you’re a full-time employee, you’re spending at least eight hours a day at work – that’s a lot of time, so why not use it to help reach your learning goals?

This has a few upsides: looking for learning opportunities (or practicing to get better at a skill) at work helps you become more efficient, signals to your employers that you’re willing to learn, and y’know, is kind of like being paid to learn. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

You could try:

• Volunteering for projects - If there’s an exciting project going on, try volunteering for it. It’s a chance to practice new skills and collaborate with new team members.
• Applying what you’re learning - Find ways to apply what you’re learning (or would like to learn) at work. For example, as a content writer I wrote Python scripts to crawl through our blog section to look for specific data we needed. This helped me sharpen my coding skills, while saving hours of manual work.
• Joining a company that values learning - A company that supports learning will have employee perks that show it. At LottieFiles, employees get an unlimited learning budget and a company culture that encourages growth and exploration. Being a part of a company that values these things definitely helps!

Reach out

Google is an incredible resource for learning almost anything, but actually interacting with experts helps too. You get to learn from their first-person experiences, as well as get feedback on your work. And as an employee, you already have a network of experts you can tap on – your workplace. 

Remote work sometimes gets flak for making it hard to connect with your team. But that’s not always true. In fact, as an introvert, it’s easier to connect in some ways. For instance, if I were looking for feedback on an article from a colleague I’ve never had a conversation with, there’s no pressure to set up a formal physical meeting. I’d just shoot a quick introduction on Slack, and ask if they would be willing to help. 

LottieFiles also regularly hosts Lottie Tuesdays, in which different team members share their expertise on a wide variety of topics. If your workplace hosts similar events, they’re worth checking out, even if they don’t directly relate to your role. Use these events to find out how different functions in the company relate to your work, and who to look for if you need guidance. 

Cut yourself some slack

It’s hard to be focused on personal growth all the time. 

There’ll be times (usually on Friday evenings, in my experience) when you won’t feel like cultivating a curiosity about the world – perhaps the only thing you’ll be keen on learning is how many slices of pizza you can humanly ingest without feeling terrible later. Or maybe there’ll be weeks (or months) of feeling stuck in a rut, as you struggle with a particularly hard concept or area in your learning path.  

And that’s okay. 

Progress isn’t always linear in the short term. Just be consistent, give yourself time to rest, and try to focus on long-term growth. You’ll get there eventually.

This article was contributed by Jen-Li, who is currently a content writer at LottieFiles.