Why Professional Development is Important & How to Make a Plan
At Failure Lab, we believe in continuous self-improvement on all levels - personal, professional, emotional - you name it.
Cultivating curiosity and learning is one of the most critical components of living a fulfilled and meaningful life. We believe that learning and growth in any area of life improves the quality of life - in all areas.
Let’s focus on Professional Development (PD) and why professional development is so important.
Many of these (maybe all) are pretty obvious, but we are all swamped with “doing” the work of our lives.
When you are consumed with juggling all of the “needs to be done right now” balls, it can be challenging to zoom out and prioritize longer-term investments in yourself. So here is a quick reminder of why it is important.
When we are talking about Professional Development, we are talking about the full range - from listening to a relevant podcast or reading a leadership book to getting your MBA. The spectrum is enormous, and there is an entry point for everyone.
WHY PD IS IMPORTANT
Lead by Example: If you don’t prioritize investing in yourself, why the heck should anyone else? Read that again. Feeling overlooked at work? Frustrated that your organization/boss/family/friends are not prioritizing your professional growth & development? ARE YOU?!?! Do you believe that you are worthy of investment & attention? Prove it. Put your money/time/effort where your mouth is. Model the behavior that you would like to see from others.
Learning Brains are Healthy Brains: (check out this article in Very Well Mind that discusses the benefits of lifelong learning on brain health & aging). Who here is old enough to remember P90X? For those of you who never had the thrill of DVD home workouts, P90X is/was an at-home workout phenomenon launched in 2005. P90X is known for popularizing the term “muscle confusion,” which theorizes that bodies exposed to changing workouts, new stimuli, & novel movements see better health gains than bodies that do the same workout routine repeatedly. The same is true for your brain. We have all experienced this phenomenon physically & mentally. The first time you run a mile…..dying. If you keep doing it, it becomes easy, and to see progress, you have to push harder, faster, or longer. The first time you learn a new skill….challenging. Do it enough times, and it becomes second nature. To keep yourself in top condition mentally & physically, you must prioritize new experiences and varied opportunities for growth & learning.
You are a Unique, Special Flower - So is Everyone Else: If you were lucky, you had parents, mentors, teachers, etc., who told you how amazingly special & wonderful you are. Is it true? YES. Are you the only unique special flower? NOOOOOOOOO. Confidence is amazing. Frankly, a lot of us could use more confidence.
CONFIDENCE + REALISTIC PRAGMATISM = HOW YOU ARE GOING TO FIND SUCCESS
What makes you special in a sea of unique, special, qualified, competent flowers? What gives you a competitive edge? What makes you memorable….worthy of investment and attention (see #1)?
Doing the Bare Minimum Will Get You the Bare Minimum: Content with what you have? Wonderful. You keep on keepin’ on. Complacent with what you have? Apathetic about what you have? Get off your butt and do something about it. Want more? BE more.
“IF YOU WANT WHAT YOU HAVE NEVER HAD, YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE NEVER DONE.”
-Random Wisdom From the Ages (I couldn’t find out if this saying is attributed to anyone in particular, but it is powerful nonetheless.)
In summary, PD is critical in maintaining professional relevance & “edge,” advancing your career, and achieving your professional goals (which is indirectly related to achieving your personal goals because, for most of us, our professional life finances our personal life). Also, learning is good for you, duh.
Now that we have established a few reasons why we should all prioritize Professional Development let’s talk about the logistics of getting some PD action items on your calendar.
BE STRATEGIC
Is it good to randomly scan LinkedIn for interesting articles? Yes.
Is it better to be open to information as it crosses your various social & news feeds AND ALSO have some thoughtful & specific goals around your personal growth? Abso-freaking-lutely.
As you consider your own PD strategy, here are some things to consider (if you are serious about this exercise, we recommend that you get yourself a pen and paper and start writing down some things that come to mind):
Aspiration: What are your professional goals? Short term. Long term. What do you want your career to look like next year? In five years? In ten years? In this exercise, it is important to make some guesstimates about the timeframe and have some thoughts about prioritization/how your aspirations relate to one another. (Example: Melissa wants to build out her own digital marketing firm. She should probably put “learn about basic small business strategy” before “quitting her corporate job.”)
Strengths & Gaps: Consider your skill strengths & gaps for each of those timeframes. Don’t limit your considerations to “things you don’t know” and “places you are weak.”
Developing yourself into the “most effective version of your professional self” does not necessarily mean learning ALL the things. It means identifying your LIMITING skill gaps, the skills necessary to achieve the next iteration of your professional self, AND maturing, refining, and evolving the strengths that make you amazing.
Narrow it Down: One of the biggest deterrents of action is volume - too much stuff, too many choices, too much overwhelm. “Narrowing it down” is a prioritization exercise, but more importantly, it is a tool for action. Learning stuff is good for you. Full stop. In many ways, it doesn’t matter if you “pick the right thing to learn.” It is more important that you START.
What new, unexplored, and relevant skills would you like to learn? What is one existing (or dabbled in) skill set that you would like to enhance and elevate?
Investment: Make it real. TOYM= Think Of YOUR Money. This should really be money, time, and overarching investment, but for most of us, considering the $$$$ makes this thought experiment more pointed.
Consider your shortlist. How important is it to you? How much would you be willing to invest in your OWN growth & development? Would you buy and read a book? Would you organize and commit to a monthly professional book club/working group? Would you sign yourself up for an online class? Would you start saving now to be able to enroll in a program next year?
Subsidy: Take an idea that you are excited, passionate, and committed to and consider if there are ways to subsidize your journey. This brings us to the second part of this article - How To Get Your Employer To Pay For PD.