Have you settled into a cosy little lockdown routine or are you climbing the walls? Whichever camp you’re in, this could be your chance to boost your skillset and further develop your career. Those of us freelancing, running a business or working in a leadership role can never afford to sit on our laurels. The change to life as we know it means that many of us are finding our routines and schedules light-years from where they were a month or two ago. The big question is: how can we make the most of that change?
Wondering whether to remove all the door handles and give them a good deep clean?
Ok, so real life is still happening to some degree. But, once you’ve finally got the kids settled, the dog walked, the garden weeded and then baked something with the 30,000kg of flour that you’re stashing (it is you, right? Because if not, who has all the flour?), you might be wondering what to do with yourself. The answer is simple, if you know where to look; in a bid to keep us all sane, a range of authorities and institutions have given us free access to some brilliant tools that you can use to give your career or your business some much needed love and attention. All you have to do is invest the one thing you currently have: time.
Nourish your brain and future-proof your career
One of the BIG hot topics currently is CPD (continuing professional development). I work in areas that are constantly changing and developing (neither language nor marketing stand still), and keeping up with best practice and making sure I maintain expertise in those fields means investing time and attention. Sometimes, though, life gets in the way; before you know it you look around to find that ‘elbow bump’ is in the dictionary, hyphens are falling out of fashion and you ought to be vying for a place on the Google carousel and monitoring your share of voice.
I’m writing a book (who isn’t, nowadays?). In the true spirit of procrastination, instead of sitting down and writing a new chapter I’ve put together 6 FREE resources you can use to up your game:
- FutureLearn: From business and management to politics and creative arts, FutureLearn offers excellent courses with contributions from top universities and institutions from around the world. Partly owned by The Open University, the free courses run by FutureLearn are mostly short modules that can be done in around 2-10 weeks. These courses are free for a period (enough time to complete them), or you can pay to access them for longer. They also offer (paid-for) full-blown degrees, though hopefully we won’t be in lock-down for that long!
- Google Digital Garage: Running your own business? Want to give your SEO and page rankings a boost? Well then, this one is for you. From understanding digital marketing to learning JavaScript, Google have put together a wide range of courses mostly – though not exclusively – relating to the world of digital.
- Feedly: If you’re looking for a way to stay up-to-date with best practice and the latest news in your industry, then using an app like Feedly is a great way to ensure that the latest blogs and news from a disparate range of channels and resources are delivered to you in one place, every day. There are a number of these apps out there, Feedly happened to be the one that I settled on because I liked its user interface, but they are a great way to start your day and to find little nuggets of inspiration from around the internet.
- Ted Talks: Love listening to great speakers? Want to hear it from the experts’ mouths? Prefer watching to reading? If you’ve never tried a TED talk, it’s time to pop that particular cherry and give it a go – trust me, you won’t regret it. Simply sign up, browse for topics that interest you and get learning.
- OpenLearn: Offering free courses ranging from 1 hour to 100 hours in length, Open Learn is affiliated with the Open University and covers a wealth of topics as well as quizzes, articles and games. From art to ethics, astronomy to nutrition, there is something here for everyone – and you may well find yourself distracted away from your intended CPD into something that sounds far more interesting… be warned!
- Writers’ HQ: If, like me, you’ve been writing a novel for some time – either in your head or on paper – this site has brilliant resources including, for the time of Covid-19, free online weekend retreats, courses to help you through the plotting, characterisation and writing processes, as well as loads of support and a slightly sweary but loveable on-point approach to motivation. You have to pay for unlimited support and to be able to access all their courses (which has been well worth it for me), but there are plenty of free resources to get you started.
Those of us lucky enough not to be on the front line but still doing our bit to help out by staying at home have a unique opportunity. We often hear leadership gurus telling us that it takes 30 days to form a new habit – so what’s to lose? Start now and you might find you begin a CPD journey that sticks around even after we’re all allowed back out into the world.
Picture credits: Abstract colour by Markus Spiske on Unsplash, girl with books flying by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash