Tips for Making the Most of Online Learning

Have you ever been guilty of purchasing online learning materials, only to have them sit there judging you from the bottom of your inbox?

I too have made this error, but I don’t think that the mistake was in purchasing the course, as much as it was a lack of structure to facilitate myself in completing them.

As I am participating this year in The Creative Bundle 2024, I wanted to share a few tips which helped me to overcome this problem, and open myself up to a greater world of learning.

3 TIPS to ‘Make it Happen’

1. Prioritisation

To overcome many different habits, people always say that “It has to come from YOU” and my interpretation of that idea is that you really need to commit to the belief that the habit change is going to serve you.

In this case, I think that there is often an old belief system around ‘productive time’ that needs to be disassembled in order for us to do the necessary task of prioritising creative pursuits over say, housework or extra paid work.

If busyness holds you back from ‘finding the time’ for your online learning, then I believe the first step needs to be asserting the importance of this activity to yourself. Consider the amount of time you would like to see yourself giving to the activity, and regard its purpose in your life.

If you need help in being nudged over the edge into beliving that Creative Play is important, you might enjoy another blog I have ‘For Love or Money ~ Balancing Business with Creativity’

2. Planning

To be Honest, even if you struggle with the first tip of prioritization at first, Planning should help get you there organically. If you have a plan and stick to it, there is every chance that you will see the benefits and start placing importance on Creativity anyway.

My suggestion for good planning is to have a set time which recurs without negotiation (with yourself, work or family). Although this can sometimes be met with pushback at first, in my experience, this dedicated time becomes the new normal before too long.

The benefits of recurring set times is that you can anticipate it, feel ready for it, and trust that it will come around again if you don’t make the most of it for some reason. This is important to reduce pressure or negative feelings around any mistakes.

3. Space

I have spoken about it before, but whether you can manage a delightful little cottage in the garden, or a simple box which is yours & yours alone, I think that having some space that you have for yourself to create is important.

For many people, unfinished projects and unapologetically messy materials need a space to be unquestioned and ideally for your eyes only. Shared as you wish to.

The more hurdles you can remove to be playing regularly the better, and setting up / cleaning up is one of the biggest hurdles there is.

Have a think about which corner or room you might be able to adopt & make your own.

If you would like a copy of my ‘7 Steps to Creativity’ for more ideas on developing a Creative Life you can subscribe to my course page here and receive it for free.

The Online Learning I Offer

The Creative Bundle

For the week of October 22nd-29th 2024 I am participating in ‘The Creative Bundle 2024’ which is a varied and beautiful collection of 52 courses, e-books and workshops.

Within the bundle are lots of different styles of teaching, mediums and opportunities to learn and play. You get to have all of them (including one of my courses) for one heavily discounted price.

All together the resources have a value of over $3600 USD which is incredible value when you consider that is less than the value of my one course!

You can learn all about ‘The Creative Bundle 2024’ by clicking HERE.

River Ceramics Online Courses

Year round I currently offer 4 online courses, which share tips and take you through projects in the areas of clay I love the most. I really enjoyed making these courses and feel so happy to regularly get amazing feedback from those who have completed them.

To see what is on offer, you can click HERE

I hope to make one more full course in 2025 and start providing some smaller fun options too. Please subscribe to my mail list on the course page to hear about what’s new!