Learning new skills and leveling up your existing ones has a wide range of benefits for you personally and professionally. It can allow you to tackle new professional projects with know-how and confidence, give you a competitive edge in the workplace or during a job search, and leave you feeling more fulfilled in your hobbies and passions in your personal time.
Taking the time to add to your skill set or hone specific skills to perfection doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. You can enhance your capabilities in many ways, with the only cost being time, using the following approaches.
Read
Picking up a book or diving into articles about topics you’re investing time in to understand more thoroughly and implement into your work or personal life can be incredibly insightful and helpful for leveling up your skills. They are particularly helpful for exploring complex or soft skills like interpersonal communication.
For instance, if you’d like to be better at connecting with people and carrying on conversations, books like How to Win Friends and Influence People can help you do that and provide actionable tips to apply in your day-to-day life.
Many reading materials are available online for free or at lower prices, and you can always opt to find what you need through resources such as local or university libraries.
Volunteer
Volunteering, particularly when you’re a student or early in your career, can be an immensely valuable way to exercise your skills and gain new ones. Volunteers are needed for a wide range of initiatives and organizations, providing plenty of opportunities to find a volunteer position that aligns with your existing skill set or where you’d like your skill set to take you.
These roles often come with insights or techniques you can add to your roster, and you’ll frequently work with others with complementary skills you can learn from. If building new abilities isn’t incentive enough, volunteering also benefits your mental health and can help you network and find new work opportunities.
Attend Industry Events
Industry events allow you to connect with others in your field, and talking with people is an incredible way to learn something new. These events provide you with the opportunity to ask questions of professionals in an appropriate setting to help you develop goals or a plan for your learning.
Regularly attending professional events in your industry often also comes with presentations about updates to your industry, such as new product launches or updates that can streamline your workflows or new research findings that can enhance how you approach projects. These presentations may, in part, be promotional, but they are also valuable learning opportunities.
Take Part in Workshops
Workshops can be challenging to find for free, but that doesn’t mean they’re not available or valuable. Places like libraries or employment centers frequently host free workshops to help people learn something new or build on existing skills. Libraries often host free art or writing classes where you can meet like-minded people and receive guidance from someone more adept at the task than you.
Looking online for free workshops or learning events can also help you find learning opportunities. For instance, Eventbrite or Facebook Events often allow you to filter for free events and search for a specific topic or interest.
Take Online Courses & Classes
The internet has affected almost every aspect of peoples’ lives; it’s where we connect with people, work, watch TV shows and movies, and play video games. The internet, however, is far more than just a way to find the best PA online casinos at casinos.com or your next binge-worthy show. It’s also a wealth of information and useful resources that can help you build your skill set—as long as you know where to look.
If you’re interested in taking a course or a class, consider looking to resources like Coursera, Udemy, or Khan Academy, all of which offer free online courses in multiple languages and on various subjects. Meanwhile, Google Skillshop provides a vast collection of certificate courses that can help you upskill on a range of topics, including how to implement AI tools in various personal or professional situations.
You could also look to prestigious universities and colleges for courses, as many have embraced the popularity of online learning and offer free programs to anyone interested. Popular schools offering these courses include Harvard and Stanford.
Online courses and classes are some of the most valuable ways to up-level your skill set because they provide you with concrete milestones and goals to work towards. These milestones and objectives help you stay accountable in your quest for learning and allow you to see your progress, motivating you to keep working. Many courses also come with certificates once you pass, and you can use these to enhance your resume.
Learn Through Your Work
Whether it’s taking advantage of professional development courses offered, shadowing another worker, or becoming involved in a new project, there are countless ways you can expand your knowledge and abilities while on the job—and without it costing you. In addition, look into whether your workplace can reimburse you or offer you a discount for taking professional development courses on your own time.
Final Words
We never stop learning, and leveling up your skill set is a way to continuously learn with a specific objective in mind. Whether we’re updating skills for our passion projects or work projects, our skills can continually be honed and improved.
