Multitasking in this day and age is nothing short of time traveller wizardry, but in this era of innovation and advancement who says you can’t have it all?
Working on and perfecting a new skill requires motivation, discipline and perhaps most importantly, time. Whether it is familial obligations, college, work or an active and full social calendar, it can sometimes feel like you are being pulled asunder, but despite this, you may not want to make any concessions. Nor should you have to.
Now, in this era of virtually unrivalled technological achievement, is the time to upskill and take advantage of every opportunity to advance yourself. Though you may have a hectic schedule and worry about the effect of consistent upskilling on an already jam-packed lifestyle, if you want to upskill, work, study, socialise and engage with life, you can. It just takes a little planning and time manipulation.
Reach out
Working full-time but needing to upskill significantly to advance in your career is a bit of a paradox, as your commitments to work may ironically be hindering your ability to perform to a higher standard.
In your struggle to stay on top of your work while also taking advantage of new career opportunities, you leave yourself open to burnout, which negatively affects the company, co-workers and yourself.
So why not reach out for the support that is there? Good employers who value their employees and a healthy company culture know how to foster ingenuity and motivation for the betterment of the workplace and the individual. They likely will welcome the opportunity to upskill the workforce and can help strategise a sustainable growth plan going forward. They may even be able to help you decide how best to prioritise your work.
Choose flexibility
If you know that you have work or college from 9am to 5pm, with an hour break until 6pm, before going back into upskilling for the rest of the evening, it can zap the energy right out of you, making it that much more difficult to retain information.
Organisation is important and if you don’t have a rough outline of your schedule or plans then it can be tough to stay on track with your goals. However, overly managing your time to the point of filling every hour, is exhausting and impractical.
By choosing flexible online courses, people with additional commitments such as work, college or family, can engage with further learning in their own time, without putting extra pressure on themselves or creating an overly strenuous schedule.
Invest in yourself
Depending on your source, upskilling may or may not have a financial component, but it will always require a hefty energy investment. It is clichéd, likely because it is a fact, that you can’t fully engage with learning if you are tired and lacking in energy.
Insufficient sleep affects concentration, hinders creativity and lowers motivation. So if you are driving yourself to the brink of exhaustion to meet expectations and deliver results, it is very likely you will miss those targets trying to do it all on very little sleep.
Instead, give yourself a little grace, eat healthily, drink lots of water and ensure you are getting a decent night sleep. The amount you will require varies for everyone, but try for at least seven to eight hours. At work you are considered an asset, so invest in yourself.
Compromise without surrender
Often there comes a time when you have had enough. The expectations placed on you either by yourself or others are too high, your schedule is too full and there is no end in sight to all the work. Take some comfort in knowing that this is a fleeting feeling.
Eventually it will all balance out and you will find a rhythm that uniquely works for you. But if you are finding that you truly are juggling too many balls, then you may have to relinquish one or two. That doesn’t mean however that maintaining balance is no longer important.
If you have to choose between letting go of two different hobbies, one that is more enjoyable or relaxing than the other, in order to continue your upskilling course, my advice would be to keep the activity that brings the most joy. Don’t let go of a stress reliever, just to continue engaging with the cause of that stress. It really is all about balance.
Upskilling is a wonderful way to improve yourself, be it from a professional or personal point of view, but at the end of the day, it is important to remember that while you are an asset, an employee, a friend, a family member and a teammate among other things, you are also a human being, so don’t take on more than you can handle to fit every aspect of your life.
Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
