What are some common pitfalls of your One Good Thing?

For many adults, not knowing where to start can be quite a daunting experience. For some people, it might bring up memories from their childhood, when they struggled at school or perhaps didn’t have much confidence in the classroom. However, learning as an adult is a completely different experience and can feel incredibly empowering. As an adult learner, you can decide exactly what you want to learn and how you want to do it; just small steps are a huge improvement and can set you on a new path.

There are also some misconceptions around time and costs when it comes to adult learning. A lot of people assume that learning something new is going to take a lot of time and be expensive, but that isn’t always the case. As I mentioned, there are lots of free and flexible resources to choose from based on your commitments and goals. If you’re not sure where to start, you can even book a free appointment with a National Careers Advisor.

How do you personally prioritise learning?

Personally, I always like having some sort of learning project on the go. Last year, I learned to hula hoop, which was a lot of fun. I also taught myself how to record and edit my own podcast, thanks to the many tools available online.

Learning is threaded right through my day. Right now, I’m doing Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day yoga challenge and enjoying learning all about yoga. Twice a day, I use the Duolingo app, where I’m learning to speak German. I’ve also started to learn music on Duolingo. I’ve tried to learn keyboard before and not got very far with it, so I’m going to give it another go this year. There are a few Beatles songs I really want to learn how to play.

In addition to that, as a career coach I’m always looking to keep my professional skills current, whether that’s attending coaching conferences and webinars or improving my business or digital skills.

One Good Thing: learning can be transformative for our mental health – we all need to make time for it