What will continuously learning computer skills help you achieve?
Continuously learning computers skills over time will help you to remember keyboard shortcuts and useful features.
How often have you attended a training session, learnt something really innovative and then completely forgotten about it?
Probably more times than you can count.
This so often happens in computer training. You attend a one-hour session to learn the new version of Microsoft you have and you learn an overwhelming number of shortcuts and features.
Without continually practicing these shortcuts and features, you risk forgetting them. Continuous learning is a technique that helps you to achieve knowledge retention and skills maintenance.
By remembering these features, you will boost your productivity and efficiency. In our Back to Basics article, we shared with you three basic features that you should already know how to use in Microsoft Programs.
In each of our training sessions, we start with a back to the basics overview. It is an opportunity for you to refresh your knowledge.
But the thing is, you should already know this. So, by not constantly practising and learning, you are not improving and therefore wasting your time. Here are ten tips to help you avoid wasting time in Microsoft Programs.
What’s more, is that once you start to master these features and shortcuts, you can start to create innovative ideas. For example, once you know the basic steps to using Pivot Tables, you can start becoming creative and inventive in the way in which you use the feature.
Continuously learning computer skills will help you to be productive, efficient and innovative in your everyday computer use.
What will happen if you don’t invest in continuous learning for your computer skills?
On the other hand, not continually learning these computers skills will have the opposite effects.
For example, without practice your skills will not progress. This can affect possible promotions and will constantly make you feel incompetent and doubtful of your skills.
During learning, there are four different stages that you will go through, you can read about them here. Continuous learning helps you to move through these stages and become an expert where your skill is second nature to you.
However, without continuous learning you can easily regress through these stages, not retain any information and lose all your progress. Once you start to feel confident with your competency, you definitely do not want to regress to an incompetent stage.
As above, using shortcuts and learning new features will save you time, not retaining this knowledge will be an even worse time waster.
Features help you to finally stop manually completing tasks. For example, splitting text between columns or completing any of these back to basic fundamentals. If you do not know these features exist, or you do not practice them, you will waste so much time in manually completing tasks.
Or, worse, if you don’t constantly practice, you will waste time streaming through YouTube trying to find a quicker way to do your task. Continual learning helps you to constantly put your skills to practice and retain your current abilities.
How can you implement continuous learning?
To implement continuous learning, follow the below 3 steps:
Step 1: Reset your Mindset. That is, why are you starting a journey of continuous learning?
Step 2: Set realistic Goals. ‘Study for 2 hours a day is not a realistic goal’. ‘Stop wasting time in Microsoft Programs by learning shortcuts’ is a more focused goal.
Step 3: Create a Plan. Map out how you will achieve your goal.
Read more about each step here.
There are many ways in which you can reach your continuous learning goal. While training is the most obvious there are many other including being part of community forums and making time to practice. We have put together 10 tips to reach your continuous learning goal, read them here.
The wrap up
We know that the last thing you want is to feel incompetent, inefficient and unproductive in your work.
Here are CTSA, we focus on improving your computer skills so that you can start to feel confident and innovative. Learn about the training services we offer here.
To help you retain your skills, we have multiple continuous learning opportunities, one of them being our Save a Million Minutes series. Sign up for free here.