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. 

How To Discover And Define Your Life's Work

The Importance of Aligning Your Professional Life With Your Life's Work 

Here is a simple tool to help you discover and define your life's work. Write a descriptive statement specifying why you are doing what you do, or what you would be doing in an ideal environment. This descriptive should be a single sentence that answers:

Who are you professionally?

What are you doing for a living?

Why are you doing this?

For instance:

I am a highly paid executive (who)

generating significant personal revenue (what)

to enable me to fund projects that feed the hungry (why).

I am a teacher (who)

opening young minds (what)

so the world will be a better place for my grandchildren (why).

I am a consultant (who)

who advises business start-ups (what)

so I have time to write children's books with moral stories (why).

The "why" should be clearly aligned to your life's purpose, which can either be directly linked to your employment work (as in the case of the teacher example above) or not (as in the other two examples). The "who" and "what" are the means to your Determined Life desired outcomes or goals.

Remember, the "who" in this purpose statement is not a true reflection of who you truly are, but merely a descriptive of who you are in your professional life capacity. 

When you align your professional life with your life's purpose you will be Living A Determined Professional Life. 

When that happens, you will never long to stay in bed longer (even on a cold winter's morning) nor will you ever again not look forward to Monday mornings. 

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. 

How To Have A Successful Working Career

Living A Determined Professional Life 

Mark Sutherland, a business coach in New Zealand and former Olympic Gold Medal coach, says there are three components to a successful work career ── enjoyment in what you do, being productive and doing something meaningful.

Since a great many people spend the vast majority of their waking hours either working or thinking about work, having these three key components front and center will certainly enhance the chances of developing a successful and satisfying working career.

We have reached a juncture in the development of the world where it is time to question whether too much attention is paid to economic growth and commerce. Many years ago, the line "It's the economy, stupid" helped Bill Clinton win the United States Presidency. Today, one almost feels like a presidential candidate should be shouting "It's society and our people" at his or her opponent. But until that day is reached, your professional life is likely to remain utmost among your concerns and short-term desires.

So how do you do something meaningful that you enjoy while being productive? The first step is to always bring your A-Game with you. A true professional is one who can do their best even at times when they do not particularly feel like it.

The second step is to be people focused. Far too many organizational leaders focus on tracking the outcomes of profit and customer satisfaction scores. These measurements, however, are actually byproducts of staff development, reliable products and quality customer service delivery. 

As Henry Ford said, "A business that only makes money is a poor business." A good business is one that raises the skill levels of its employees and makes pertinent contributions to its community or society at large.

The third step in meeting the success criteria laid out by Sutherland is to port your personal life characteristics and personal values into your professional life. Research shows that those whose working lives mirror or encapsulate their personal values are generally more productive and happiest with their professional lives.

For, as author and leadership trainer Steven Howard notes, "When people go to work they should not be required to leave their values at home." 

If the values of your working environment clash with your personal values, removing yourself as quickly as feasible from that working environment is mandatory for your spiritual, physical and emotional health (and growth). You are not likely to find enjoyment, be productive or consider your work to be meaningful in an environment where the values are not in sync with your personal values.

Additionally, if you cannot live your passions through your work, then you absolutely must find a way to pursue your passions on the side. Allowing your professional life to bury your personal passions is neither spiritually healthy nor rewarding. 

Living your passions through your work. Now that's the definition of Living A Determined Professional Life. 

Lastly, beware of the evil trap of, as Jackson Browne eloquently put it, "going in search of the legal tender." 

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.