Investing in yourself provides a huge return in satisfaction as well as skill, whether you look to update your computer literacy, update your accounting skills, or simply learn something new. And it does not have to be classroom style learning.
Professional or personal development covers a range of areas of improvement. Here are my 5 top tips on personal and professional development:
1. Take take take!
There are usually workshops offered through your employer to enhance your skill set. Last year I took on the Cert IV in Training and Development through a private training firm but also enrolled in learning ‘wow factor’ presentation skills offered through my company.
2. Personal Development
An investment is usually required here in time and/or dollars. I took the plunge with my coaching certificate a few years ago and it was worth every cent – though the initial parting of cash was really hard! Time can also be your investment with 1 hour workshops, ½ day courses and even just keeping up to date with blogs when you can!
3. Time out
What are you doing outside work? When I moved to Sydney I found the city would get on top of me from time to time so an escape to a meditation retreat was heaven. I have experienced the ‘silent retreats’ where talking is a no-no (I sailed through – seriously!) and ‘walking meditation retreats’, where we just enjoyed the great outdoors and allowed our thoughts to pass us by. Meditation is personal development on a different level….taming the monkey mind is much harder than it sounds.
4. Don’t let the world pass you by
What is happening in your world? Subscribing to newsletters and blogs can sometimes be enough to keep abreast of all the action. My inbox has a ‘reading’ folder and having just taken a peek – I have a range of topics from motherhood to doing my own tax return. Just need to find the time to read and clear it out!
5. Talk to others
The best way to keep learning is to keep sharing. Twitter keeps me on my toes with thousands of new topics posted every week. My friends and clients are often passing on articles and clippings for me to read. Networking events for me are great opportunities to ask lots of questions of lots of experts.
-#-
So get out here. Subscribe to newsletters, RSS feeds and blogs, find out what courses are on offer and, if nothing else, grab yourself an industry mag’ and keep up to date with what’s occurring in your world.
Now where’s my copy of Mother and Baby magazine…
(Image 
peruisay)
