Across the world, businesses from various industries have had to change how they work in light of the outbreak of COVID-19. Are you someone who’s had to embrace remote working head-on?
Consequently, workplace training has seen a seismic shift from traditional, in-person classes - to the highly engaging and experiential virtual courses that we here at MDA Training provide.
The industries making the most of experiential virtual training
We work primarily with five key industries; Manufacturing & Engineering, Asset Management, Banking, Insurance and the Service Industry.
Our clients are making the most of our experiential approach to virtual training because of the abundant benefits that online learning provides. Like convenience and efficiency, increased information retention and improved productivity.
With more of us now working from home than ever before, it seems evident that training at home is also here to stay.
While many of us are doubtlessly enjoying the freedom that remote working can offer - some of us may find ourselves easily distracted by our home comforts, our pets, family members, even the fridge!
With this in mind, we’ve put together six easy-to-follow rules to help you stay focussed and make learning from home even easier. Download the flyer: Six Tips to Help You Learn from Home and share with your colleagues or fellow learners!
Develop a Routine
Treat the time where you’re learning from home as if you were going to a physical training session. Start your day as you usually would - set an alarm to wake you up, eat some breakfast, and actually get dressed. Developing a routine provides structure, training your brain to know when it’s time to get work done.
Choose a Dedicated ‘Office’
By choosing one particular room to work from, you’re creating a physical and mental boundary between ‘the office’ and ‘home’. Having a dedicated space to work and study in will allow you to separate work and relaxation, maximising your potential for productivity.
Enforce a ‘no phone’ policy
This might seem a little strict, but there’s a reason why workplaces and training providers request your phone remains out of sight; they're distracting!
While you’re studying or working at home, put your phone out of sight to remove temptation. It's also a good idea to turn off notifications from messages and social media on your computer, and close any web pages that aren’t relevant to the task in hand.
Stay Active on a Schedule
Break up your day at set times. Every 45 minutes, get up from your desk and move around. Jump up and down, walk round the room, even walk up and down the stairs a few times. This will activate different parts of your brain and help you to concentrate better in the long run.
You can also save your eyes and alleviate headaches from too much screen-time by sticking to the 20 / 20 / 20 rule; every twenty minutes, look twenty metres away from your screen, for twenty seconds.
Eat, Sleep, Learn, Repeat!
They say you are what you eat - not literally - but choosing healthy snacks and preparing lunches that won’t require an afternoon nap to recover from are two sure-fire ways to stay motivated when you’re learning from home.
Some of us are night owls and others early birds, but we all need 7-8 hours of quality sleep a night, to ensure we wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. So keep scrolling in the evening to a minimum, and try building a regular bedtime into your routine.
Plan Your Day
Trying to plan your workload, daily exercise, social schedule and everyday chores all at the same time is never going to make a positive impact on your learning. Instead, plan your day, setting time aside for everything you hope to achieve. This way you’ll be able to focus on one thing at a time whether that’s working, studying or relaxing.
Try our tips if you’re working from home
Our training courses are rooted in experiential learning methods, leveraging digital business simulations in real-world scenarios to ensure that our learners stay engaged from start to finish.
But for those of you who are working from home on a permanent basis, at least for the foreseeable future, these six tips might just help you to optimise your working day and boost overall productivity even further.
If you’d like to discuss any of our sector-specific courses in more detail, and discover how we could help you to develop your skillset even further - don’t hesitate to reach out to the MDA team today.