Too many people claim to do Self-Development, when what they do is mostly wishful thinking, with little or NO ACTION TAKING! The ideas I offer will help you practice results-focused Self-Development that yields tangible benefits!
1. BREAK the bad habit of idolising paper qualifications
Don’t rush like others to acquire the latest certification unless you’re sure it can really help you improve. Don’t feel inferior to another person for any reason – especially not because he has an MBA when you only have an M.sc.
Ask yourself: Do I really need this qualification to get ahead in my job/life – now or in the future?
2. Find a role model – Within your company or outside it
There are people who have done similar things to what you wish to achieve in their time, and who have chosen to write about how they did it. Make them your role models – use their methods or modify to suit your self/purpose.
3. Stop begin afraid to stoop to learn
Ask yourself who you work with that you have no idea what he does. Begin to show interest in understanding what your co-workers or subordinates do and how they do it. You WILL learn a lot and MIGHT have some useful ideas on improvement to pass on to them. And of course the personal interest you show in their work will do a lot to boost their morale.
4. Start knowing a little about everything
Show interest in other parts of the business for instance. Be interested in knowing how the production department did last week, what their problems were and how they resolved them. Before long you’ll begin to sound like you actually know a bit about what goes on there.
Better still; the department’s members may begin to see you in a more positive light.
At a point, managers not as close to Production as you are, may begin to regard you as a reliable source of information about that department.
Don’t be fooled – all these will be noticed/eventually filter to the decision-makers at the top and they will take note of it for the future.
5. Read, Read, Read and Read!
Build a personal library. Buy books that teach you what you want to know. Apply what you learn from the books.
6. Develop the right attitude toward problem-solving: Be a change agent!
Always seek ways to improve the way things are done. Never avoid problems. Problems are challenges that present us with an opportunity to learn “a little more” (in addition to what we already know) by trying to solve them.
7. Become a deep thinker
Be reflective. I do not mean that you should “worry”. Start doing the little things that others never seem to think matter. You must have depth. People who come to you should come away feeling that you have a lot to offer them.
They should feel that you have revealed something new about what they thought they knew to them. Others will enjoy working with you because they will get nourishment from you.
Never be superficial. Never lose interest in detail. It might appear fashionable, but it can be quite costly too.
8. Always finish what you start
To put it another way, never leave ANY job unfinished. You can delay or put off a job you started, but ensure you go back and finish it. It does not pay to have someone else come around to discover you did not do a complete job, when you had NO reason not to!
Your integrity automatically gets called to question…not good!
9. Learn from EVERY experience – be it failure or success
There are two sides to a coin – what you see depends on which side of the coin (the situation) you choose to look at. Do not fear failure – use it as a stepping stone instead.
10. Stay in the line of action
Always try to be in the thick of the action. Be ready to take risks.
Some people will tell you to avoid being too out in the open, but you will gain absolutely nothing by doing nothing. Confidence only comes from doing. Only when you have been a member of a problem-solving or project team, do you begin to understand how such a team works, what they do etc.
This immediately takes away whatever fears you had about being in such team when next the issue comes up. The knowledge/skill you pick up in the process will eventually serve you well if you get re-deployed or seconded in the future to an area where it becomes useful.
11. Believe in yourself & Think Positive ALWAYS
Free yourself from the discouraging limitations that naysayers may try to impose on you. That it has never been done before – or that they tried it and it did not work – does not mean you cannot do it.
What’s the point of saying “it’s been tried before and it did not work” anyway? We learn nothing by giving up! Conversely, we learn a lot by persevering through determination till we succeed.
12. Avoid re-inventing the wheel
Ask those who have been there and done it before, then modify what you learn to suit the present situation.
Use the Internet to see what is available that might be of use. The Internet is filled with various tools and resources put online by generous minded individuals and groups with a view to ensuring they make it easier for others across the world to do solve their problems quicker and more efficiently.
If you use it intelligently, you will find that you save yourself many hours of work and become more efficient and effective in the process.
Final Words
If you practice “Deliberate, Performance Enhancing” Self-Development, those around you WILL notice a major difference.
And they will eventually acknowledge you for it.
If that does NOT happen, there’s a good chance you are NOT doing it right – in which case, re-reading and diligently acting on – the 12 tips offered in this article may be what you need!
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