Invest in Yourself and be Generous

Complacency

As we go through our days at work, we get caught up focussing only on getting tasks done. The bigger picture for your own personal growth and skills development becomes forgotten. Stop and think: How is time passing? Is just completing tasks good enough?

A lot of us experience a sense of ennui. We want to try new things and explore more opportunities. There is a constant worry about our roles, often accepting promotion as the next step in our career.

• How are you staving off complacency?
• Is the industry (world) changing around you?
• How are you improving?
• How are you investing in yourself?

Although we assume promotions are for the time served at a company and total years of experience, the knowledge and skills you develop are keys to a new position or higher income.

Build Skills and Knowledge

To achieve those ambitions, figure out your goals. These goals must challenge you and require time investment. To build towards these goals, create a plan with concrete steps and specific dates. Schedule regular reviews, at each step, to see how you are progressing towards the goal. It may be a tedious effort to write a goal with a date for completion with each step having its own date. Satisfaction building the skills will make the effort more than worthwhile.

• How are you choosing these goals?
• Are the goals staying relevant in your current position?
• Do you want to pursue an interest?
• Are these areas needing development?
• Do you want a new position?

If you write out a goal with incremental steps and dates: Congratulations!  That is much further than most people get. Now the hard work and self-discipline begin.

The effort you are investing is in yourself. Likewise, the person who benefits is you.

Can you motivate yourself? You start with one goal and build towards making improving yourself perpetually. Remember: others around you have skills you are looking for and did not get them without putting in the effort. They may have this innate ability, but that is a small part of gaining a skill. Much more likely their skill came from experience: through using observation, research, trial and error.

Share by Coaching

Once you develop your new skill or knowledge, how can you be generous with sharing with others? How do you pass your knowledge to others? How do you make yourself available to be a sounding board for your knowledge?

Just as you will need others to aid you with achieving your goals, you can do that for others. How can others take knowledge from you and apply that knowledge in new exciting ways?

Through supporting each other you can motivate yourself. You can find a coach who has gained the new skill you are building. In return, you can coach someone else for that skill. The teaching and coaching of others solidifies your own understanding and reinforces the skill.

So as you go through your days of working, add purpose when carrying out tasks by building skills and knowledge. Strive for new challenges that may stretch you and the team beyond the picture you have of yourselves. And build your environment so that people around you join in the journey of growth and fulfillment.