Posted on 4 August, 2011
Keen to advance within your career? Then you're probably aware that there are a plethora of programs and courses that promise to help you with your career development. Well, I'm the first to suggest that you closely evaluate the cost-benefit of any such offerings... but, in general, I do think investing in your education is important. Taking courses or enrolling in college programs notwithstanding, I sincerely think that continuing your informal education should be a core part of your personal career development. That means reading books, newsletters, journals and other publications, attending seminars and workshops, participating in mastermind groups... and even going onto the Internet to read articles like this one!. In fact, if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that you should always be looking for opportunities to learn, and that this is critical to your career development. Now while you may agree with this in principle, it's also important to be open to learning things you "already know". In other words, even if you think you know something, you may not understand it from a different, deeper or broader perspective. Yet closing your mind to these other perspectives will almost certainly hamper your career development. Indeed, true masters of a subject are often saying how they are still learning something they have apparently already learned. So what's it going to be? Will you decide that you "already know all that", close off your mind to new knowledge and skills, and wonder why your career development has stalled? Or will you continue to embrace further opportunities to learn and evolve... and continue to progress? I know, it's kind of obvious: your best bet is to invest in your ongoing learning. And, really, ongoing learning is not just important for your career, but it's also important for your life: it's the only way to evolve as a person. For instance, a hairdresser who has been cutting hair for 15 years might be forgiven for thinking that they know all about hairdressing. Yet ever evolving fashion trends indicate that there are always new styles, techniques, products and hairdressing tools to be learned. It follows that a hairdresser who was serious about their career development would constantly be reading the latest hairdressing trade magazines, attending hairdressing conferences and shows, and be attempting new techniques, styles, products and tools. Just ask my hairdresser. She is, pardon the pun, a cut above most, because she continues to learn and develop her skills. And that's why she is able to charge multiples of what the average hairdresser can charge - you know, the hairdresser toiling away in a salon in the mall, earning minimal wages, and wondering why they can't get ahead even though they "know it all". That's right, abandon the limited - and limiting - thinking of someone who "knows it all". Be open and willing to learn instead, and watch your career continue to move forward and upward. |
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