Learn & grow on your job

The world today is plagued with stiff contests and struggles; and your job and workplace is no exception. Under such circumstances how do you keep moving forward? Given the competitive environment, how do you outshine others and stand out in a crowd? To be able to survive and bring out the best in you, it is essential that you keep yourself abreast with the newest and cutting-edge expertise as pertinent to your field of work.

You may be armed with requisite academic and other qualifications; and into a job of your liking. Do you think that this is enough that would guarantee you a brilliant career? Perhaps no, because as you settle down at work, the zest and eagerness that you have vis-à-vis applying your expertise and know-how dies down and your work tends to become ordinary. In a number of cases, the work schedule even kisses the periphery of smugness and contentment.

To be able to progress in your career, it is necessary that you acquire and practice latest skills in consonance with the requirements of your work imperatives. It does not really matter if you have just embarked on your career or have traversed some years in it; you can always improve upon your skills and affect better performance today, tomorrow and always.

Here are three methods that will help you to keep the on-the-job learning processes alive:

·  Inaugurate the picking-up procedure:  You should be clear about your enduring objectives as also what you seek from your job and career alike. It is necessary to visualize the place where you intend to be in about a decade’s time from now. You must introspect and query yourself on these issues to discern what you require so that you can formulate a tailor-made plan and chart a road map for your career. You can keep abreast of the latest knowhow, expertise and tools related to your work by subscribing to literature and other published material. Even getting to know about latest rule schemes and strategy proposals will be of immense advantage. These could also be obtained by joining professional clubs and attending workshops and presentations. All your initiatives will position you in the vanguard of professional affairs. Remember that if you want to fly one day, you must first learn to stand, walk, run and climb; you simply cannot fly into flying.

·  Discover superior methods of doing an assignment:  The maiden action to progress is a readiness to learn and enrich you. You must have a practical and preemptive outlook towards your work; and this entails employment and application of your expertise optimally. In case you get bogged down, it will not be out of place to seek appropriate direction and regulation. Your sources to gain awareness and familiarity could well be journals and books; and colleagues and other contacts with whom you could deliberate matters and get to know more about prevailing vogues, drifts and emerging developments. You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams; remember that your imagination combined with innovation will bring about their realization. It is an established fact that if you adopt innovative procedures, your advancement will be accelerated and everything in front of you will be larger than anything that has ever happened before.

·  Monitor your progress periodically:  Learning is an endless process. However, you need to periodically watch closely and keep track of how you are performing and advancing. This will condense the time required by you to pick up things as also render it more fruitful.  You will draw inferences and make assessments; and these together with the feedback provided by your line manager and seniors alike will facilitate getting a near perfect standpoint of your progress map. Your aim should be to challenge the dark portions within you and simultaneously work to drive them out with insight. Remember that your preparedness to grapple with your whizzes will cause your spirits to sing.    

It is the best who prevail and this holds good even at your workplace where intense competition will always exist. Your spirit will invariably find a way to be born and your predisposition will seek ways to survive. If you integrate fresh expertise into your professional contours and remain updated with all new advancements in your sphere of work, you will usher in job stability and demonstrate a high degree of dedication. Your seniors will appreciate you and help in the building of a robust time ahead. The prerequisite however, is that you must try to learn something about everything and everything about something related to your job and career.