Making Time for Learning

This post was originally published on my blog.

You’ve always wanted to start learning something new to improve your skills. It may be a technical or soft skill you’ve been wanting to learn about/improve on. The problem is, you don’t have the time to spend for it. You've got work, have to commute, got a family to lead, got children to take care of — you have a life to live. So how do you make time for learning when your plate is seemingly already full? In this post, I’m going to share my approach to make time for learning. Let’s get started.

Disclaimer: This does not aim to be an ultimate guide to making time for learning. I do hope though that this post helps you.

1. Make a commitment.

Unless you commit to it, learning will just stay a desire. You think about it, you talk about it, but you make no effort to put in hours to actually do it. Your desire to learn is only the starting point. The goal is to turn that desire into a commitment. The commitment you make will push you and create grit in you to keep learning even when you face obstacles or you just honestly don't feel like doing it.

One practical way of making a commitment is telling others about it. Tell your family about it. Tell your close friends about it. Tell someone you trust about it. Ask them a favor to check on your progress from time to time and encourage you to keep at it despite the challenges (or excuses) you may have.

keep_learning if self.committed?

2. Evaluate your daily routine.

Get a pen and paper, sit down and list your usual activities and the amount of time you spend for every activity. The list should include all activities that consume a significant amount of your time. If an activity takes at least 30 minutes, include that in the list.

Next, for every activity you've listed and its corresponding amount of time spent, indicate whether that activity adds value or not. Essential activities obviously add value, while the non-essential ones oftentimes don't. A trivial example appears below:

Based on the example above, we see that we have two usual activities that don't really add value. You can then use the time you spend for these non-essential activities for learning.

Including learning time in your daily activities, your daily schedule now looks like:

Easier said than done, and your routine may vary from day-to-day, but the point is, you can make time for learning, given that you have activities that don't add value and you are willing to sacrifice them for one that does. If you have time for entertainment (just like the trivial example above), then most probably you'll be able to allot time for learning.

Am I saying here that you get rid of these non-essential activities for good? It's up to you. You may choose to lessen the time you spend for these non-essential activities. Spending 30 minutes or less for these things won't hurt. I just think that regularly spending hours for entertainment is unproductive. Again, it's up to you.

You can make time for learning, given that you have activities that don't add value and you are willing to sacrifice them for one that does. If you have time for entertainment, then most probably you'll be able to allot time for learning.

3. Put it in schedule.

Making time for learning is likely to happen if you put it in schedule. Don't decide what time to do it on a day-to-day basis. Learning will become a habit if it's part of your schedule. If not, you will end up procrastinating and eventually give up.

Here are some guide questions you can ask yourself as you decide where to put learning in your schedule:

• What time of the day do you still have the energy to learn/study?
• What time of the day are there less distractions so you can focus?
• What period of the day can you spend for learning such that the effect/compromise on your priorities is little to none?

After careful thought on your considerations, you can now put "time for learning" in your schedule. Let's update our trivial example (others omitted for brevity):

Of course, putting it in schedule is one thing and following it is another. At first, it can get really challenging to follow your schedule. You may not always hit your schedule, but try not to get too far off from it. Commit to do your best to follow your schedule.

4. Focus. Focus. Focus.

Not only does learning require a lot of time — effective learning also requires focus. There are many resources that share tips on how to stay focused. Choose whatever is applicable to you. For instance, I find that the Pomodoro Technique helps me a lot in staying focused. You would also want to minimize the distractions while you study. While you cannot fully eliminate all distractions, make an effort to at least minimize them. Here are some practical ways you can minimize distractions:

• Turn off unimportant notifications on your phone and computer.
• If learning offline, you may turn the WiFi or cellular data off to keep you from checking stuff on the internet while you study.

A side note on distractions:
Your child wanting to play with you or your spouse wanting to spend time with you is NOT a distraction. Go ahead and pause your reading (or that tutorial video) and attend to them. It is important though that you let them know about your commitment to learn and that it requires time. Ask them if the schedule works or not and adjust as necessary.

5. Rest well.

Yes, you need to rest well to be able to make time for learning. Your health is a priority, so you must also schedule time for rest. When your mind and body are well rested, chances are your energy and focus are way better (remember, learning takes time, energy and focus). You won't miss out so much on your learning if you take a day or two of rest from it. Perhaps do something else outside of learning — take a walk with your family, spend longer time to just quiet yourself and hear from God, catch up with friends, etc.

TL;DR

1. Make a strong commitment to make time for learning. Tell others about it and update them on your progress.
2. Evaluate your routine and allot the time you spend for activities that don't add value to learn instead.
3. Put time for learning in your schedule and commit to do your best to follow it.
4. Focus and minimize distractions. If priorities knock on you while you're in the zone, attend to them.
5. Rest well. You need it.