Marcus Richards59% of employees claim they have had no workplace training and most of the skills they know are self-taught. And while that shows a clear problem with businesses not making their employee improvement a priority, it also means that those that want to progress and boost their career prospects will need to learn vital business skills on their own.
The good news is that while that may seem like a daunting task, there are actually relatively simple steps you can take to separate yourself from other employees in your field and dramatically improve your chances of getting promoted or finding the job of your dreams.
To help you get on the path toward career success, let’s explore a few of the most crucial personal development activities you should focus on right now.
Learn How to Quit Without Burning Bridges
Changing jobs is an inevitable part of being a professional. Whether it’s needing a fresh start or a new work opportunity, there will be many circumstances that will result in you needing to resign from your current job to progress in your professional career.
But even though the process of telling your employer that you’re quitting is never pleasant, you should at least try to maintain a good relationship so that you don’t burn the bridge that might be useful in the future. And that’s why it makes sense to use a resignation letter generator that can ensure you tick off all the important boxes, remain courteous, and clearly explain why you are moving on.
Using a generator will allow you to leverage the best practices of resignation letters used by professionals today, ensuring you’re presenting yourself in a way that will help maintain a good relationship with the employer in the future.
Clarify Your Goals
If you want to prioritize your time and efforts to progress your career, the first step is to decide what direction you want to take. And that requires you to have a crystal-clear idea of where you want to eventually get, what it will take to get there, and what types of skills, opportunities, and relationships you need to have to put yourself in a position to succeed.
A good way to achieve that is to develop a personal development plan for work, which will allow you to identify the purpose behind your efforts, develop key habits and skills you will need to move forward, and find like-minded peers who can help keep you accountable and motivated.
Today, finding the time and motivation to become better is hard. And that means you need to use every minute you have, focusing on the aspects of your life and work that matter to you the most and cutting out everything that isn’t contributing to your happiness or what you want to achieve.
Build Learning Habits
Becoming good at different parts of your job takes a lot of time. Some of those improvements will come naturally as you gain more experience, but others will require a conscious effort and focus for extended periods.
Unfortunately, dealing with a busy schedule, life challenges, and distractions can make fitting productive learning activities into your life a big challenge. In fact, the only way to do that is to look at learning not as a one-off task but as a habit that is continually incorporated into your daily life.
In the beginning, finding time for improving work skills will seem hard because you will have to compromise in other areas to follow through. But as the habit becomes more ingrained into your life, it will eventually become virtually automatic, allowing you to allocate significant time to learning new skills, reading about your industry, and challenging yourself to become better.
With the abundance of many online learning resources and platforms such as Skillshare, Udemy, or Audo AI tool online learning has become an ideal way to build a career and learn new things without having to worry about limiting factors like limited time, travel, work commitments, and more.
Keep Your Stress Under Control
If there is one obstacle that gets in the way of people’s progress, it’s stress. Even if you’re very motivated to improve and want to get ahead, stress can force you to become hesitant and avoid activities that could result in burnout.
Because of that, you should look at stress as just another obstacle you need to overcome on your journey to reaching your goals. And that means you will need to teach yourself how to reduce stress levels even during hectic periods that might be very challenging on multiple levels.
By using meditation, relaxation techniques, and developing healthy habits that include exercise and a nutritious diet, you can take control of your stress and become more resilient to situations that could get you off balance.
Bottom Line
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of personal development activities in the process of achieving your career goals. If you learn how to consistently improve and become better at your job, that will result in massive results over time, making you one of the most sought-after talents in your industry.
By learning how to maintain connections with past employers, discovering your purpose, and managing your stress levels, you can help yourself stay on course toward success no matter what happens.
