As much as we would like to do this, it can be a recipe for disaster by asking our brains to take on so much information and juggle all the different aspects at the same time.

Research shows that to multi-task on many issues or activities as opposed to concentrating on a single item or aspect delivers poor performance, learning, or in fact any outcome.

So we need to make a choice here and that choice would consider why you are completing your CPE/CPD. Is it to learn new knowledge and to improve or is it to just satisfy the requirements and receive a tick?

If it is to just tick the checkbox then we could incorporate some of our CPD/CPE into our already established daily activities. So whilst we are driving or walking we could listen to audios that we hope to help us achieve the number of hours or watch training modules at the same time as cooking or if we really want to improve then we must focus on 1 thing at a time. 

Unfortunately, this specialised learning really does need to pass through your pre-frontal cortex for processing prior to embedding into your hippocampus long-term memory and this is the dilemma because to pass through your cognitive processing centre needs focus and if you focus on this then your other activity is passed over.

This means considering our learning time as important as our other activities. In our other posts, we can show the prioritisation of tasks, goals, and time over irrelevant activities and this is why I talk about your true motivation for doing the hours needed for your professional qualifications.

Good luck with your CPD/CPE juggling and these Courses may help.

Geoff Greenwood

Performance Specialist