Your Professional Development Is Your Responsibility

It's A Good Day When You Learn Something New! 

In the business world, the need for personal and professional development has never been greater. 

The skills needed for career success and advancement are changing rapidly, and no longer include just the "hard" technical skills required to perform tasks. 

So-called "soft skills" such as influence, leading others, working in teams, cross-border communications, cultural diversity, developing others, and conflict management are all required for success in today's workplace.

Additionally, today's workers need to hone their skills in the areas of self awareness, self confidence, trustworthiness, organizational awareness, market awareness, and achievement orientation.

Thus, the escalating need today for self-development is evident on both a personal and a workplace level. 

In many ways, what is needed today is more a focus on personal development that is for the good of society and the community, not just for the betterment of one's self. 

This is best expressed in the Japanese word kyosei, which essentially means "living and working together for the common good." 

Remember, your business and work results are a reflection of you. Your career and future business results will grow in direct proportion to your own personal growth and development. 

Don't wait for your bosses or your organization to develop your skills. Take on this responsibility yourself -- through books, online learning opportunities, or even just having conversations with more senior and experienced colleagues. 

As we often like to say:  it's a good day when you learning something new! 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is also available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Professional Development

Be Fond of Knowledge and Steadily Raise Your Levels of Expectations 

Your business and work results are a reflection of you. Your career and future business results will grow in direct proportion to your own personal growth and development.

As the golfer Jack Nicklaus points out, "Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspirations and expectations." 

One great way to steadily raise your personal levels of aspiration, according to Chicken Soup for the Soul author and founder Mark Victor Hansen, is to "read books, listen to tapes and attend seminars ── they are decades of wisdom reduced to invaluable hours." 

Another way is to delve into the treasure trove of educational and "how to" video clips at YouTube, one of the largest and greatest sources of free information available.

There are three types of education you will receive in life ── formal learning through school, self-learning through what you read and see, and the teachings that come your way from living your life.

None of these methodologies is necessarily better than the others, though there are some things you cannot learn through formal schooling or reading. Love, for instance. Or how it feels to do something of value for another human being.

What is most important, however, is learning how to learn. In the business world, corporate training programs are based on the concept that the way adults learn is through doing and experiencing, hence the proliferation of breakout groups and role playing in most of these programs. 

As Paul Coelho writes, "Teaching is merely showing that something is possible. Learning is making something possible for yourself."

It is also important to develop a life-long desire for learning. 

For, as Confucius wrote, "To be fond of learning is to be near knowledge." 

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, which is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon.