Every day's a school day!

Learning

noun The acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience or being taught.

LEARN NEW SKILLS ......Is one of the 5 steps to wellbeing! Along with "connect with others", "be active", "give to others", and "be in the present moment"

But just what benefits can learning bring you? and what sort of things could you learn?

Well the answer to the 2nd question is "absolutely anything!" Anything that you hold an interest in or have a passion for. A new skill can relate to work or home or a hobby or sport. It might have a purpose or it might just be something you have alway wanted to try.

As to the benefits... there are many. When you learn a new skill you are stimulating the neurons in your brain and forming new connections or neural pathways. The more neural pathways you have the better your brain health and your memory. Just like exercising your muscles exercising your brain can make it more healthy.

Learning new skills can give you a confidence boost and improve your self esteem thereby lowering feelings of anxiety. It might be the way you step back and allow your life to gain perspective or it might give you the edge over someone else in an interview or maybe that winning answer in the local pub quiz!

Learning as part of your professional development.

You may work in a job which requires you to regularly attend courses to update your skills, Perhaps you work in an environment where things change frequently and its important to keep abreast of latest developments. Or perhaps you want to brush up on skills to make your job easier or to advance your career. Whatever the reasons behind it CPD (continuing professional development) is never a bad thing. If there is something you would like to learn that is pertinent to your role then you could talk it over with your line manager, equally as a line manager you may feel that some of your staff would benefit from taking a particular course to help them in their role and their development. You may have in-house courses you are able to offer or you can buy in or fund a course for your employees depending upon your budget.

Learning for personal interest.

So what other reasons are there for learning new skills? Well, maybe you weren't all that bothered at school but now you find you have a real interest in Greek history or rock formations. It could be that you have a teenager (or younger!) who needs support with their maths and tbh you really don't have a clue how to calculate the area of an isosceles triangle!! National Numeracy can help with this with their Family Maths toolkit and information on helping with homework and current teaching methods

Perhaps you would like to brush up on your IT skills. Although they can have their negatives there are so many benefits to computers and the internet, from internet shopping to face-timing friends and families or listening to music and podcasts or borrowing books. If you are an older person you may be able to find course in your local area run by Age UK.

Learning a language can be a great skill particularly if you regularly visit a particular country on holiday or would like to work overseas. You can sign up to take an evening class or download an app such as Duolingo where you can choose from over 40 languages and learn in bitesized chunks.

British Sign language is a great skill to learn helping you to communicate with members of the deaf community, family, friends and work colleagues.

You might feel that you would like to go back and retake a GCSE or A level that you didn't pass or just in a subject that interests you. You may even consider working towards a higher level certificate such as a HNC or a degree. The Open University is a great place to look for full and part time courses, they also can advise you if you might be eligible for funding or a loan.

You can also look at your local authority website or in your local library for details of classes and courses either a one or 2 day weekend course or a more regular evening class. These are also a great way of meeting and connecting with people with the same interests.

Of course there are other ways to learn new skills. You might spot an advertisement on your community facebook page for an art class or someone giving guitar lessons for example.

Why not ask a friend or family member to teach you a craft they are skilled at or how to play a game like chess. You can find a tutorial for just about anything on YouTube from repairing an inner tube to making an origami swan!

If your organisation subscribes to our service Talk to a People at Work first responder and find out how we can be part of your wellbeing support. 020 3286 1545 Support@peopleatwork.co.uk

If you are not a subscriber but would like to learn more about how we can support your Team get in touch now.