If your employer sends you on a course, or you decide to take on in your own time, it can be a really great way to gain some skills and experience in your industry. Learning from home is a lot different to how you would have learnt in school, because instead of being assigned homework and having someone explaining concepts to you: you are learning independently with no one to talk to. It can be difficult to get used to, however it will also give the essential skill of independent learning.
Balancing your time when studying can be difficult too, especially if your employer doesn’t permit you to complete assignments during the working week. It can mean that you only have a limited amount of time each week to complete the work, and for many of us it can become overwhelming. However, here are some helpful tips on managing you time when learning at home.
Workspace
Of course, not all of the training you complete within your course will be done at home. With subjects such as confined space training, you will need to do some practical training elsewhere alongside your study. However, for the most part, you will still be learning to work effectively at home.
The key to successfully working on a project is having a productive place to carry out the work. If you have an office space already at home, spend some time decorating it and making it feel as open and spacious as possible. Add a motivational quote to the wall in front of you and make the workspace feel enjoyable to sit at. As much as working on the sofa while watching TV can be great, it can also mean you get easily distracted. To truly get yourself into the zone, making a place in the home that feels like an office will help your productivity and also avoid any distractions.
Organization
A key part of learning how to work at home is to keep yourself organized. Think about when you are in the office: you will most likely set yourself a number of tasks to complete each day and tick them off when you are done, the same should apply to your study. Buy a small stick on whiteboard and have it next to your desk area. Draw out a weekly calendar and write down a task or unit you want to complete each day. If a unit will take you a few days, try and write down the sections of the unit you want to complete each day instead. It will give you a visual reminder of where you should be up to and allow you to work effectively.
Time Management
Now for the main event; managing your time. The main thing to do when managing your time for working is to set yourself a certain amount of time each evening to work. It could be one hour, it could be two: but either way you will have a strict timeline in which to complete some of your study. It is important to remember the importance of a work-life balance: don’t over face yourself with three hours every night, because it won’t give your mind any time to relax.
Now create a priority based to-do list. You can do this for the whole of your project, or for a small portion of it. Either way, you should be able to have a list of the highest and lowest priority tasks to complete. Once you have that, estimate the time it will take for each task and write it down. Do this is number of hours to allow you to add it into your weekly schedule later.