Embrace New Experiences

Some simple but powerful words from Ken Blanchard: Open Your World! Expand Your mind and life through new Experiences. The basis of Blanchard's article is to "create your own adventure", live, enjoy and engage in new activities to continue to grow intellectually and spiritually. New experiences spur growth and cultivate opportunities! Blanchard's words of wisdom come to us courtesy of Chief Learning Officer magazine.

It's Time to Invest!

Maybe you have recently been downsized from your company - or you're worried about the next round of lay offs - or you're thinking it's time for a change. Now is a great time to invest in something that has the potential to pay dividends for years to come. Look it up, the ticker symbol to use is (InsertYourNameHere)! Make a committment to yourself to do something this month/this week, as a solid investment in your career.

What development activites have you participated in lately (and the grumbling begins across cyberspace)? I pose this question to my clients each and every week because I truly believe it is a damn good question. The opportunities are all around us in the form of for-credit college classes (classroom & online), continuing education classes, seminars, workshops, conferences, webinars, teleclasses, audio books...and the list goes on. But time and time again I hear the excuses...My company won't pay for that. Money is tight right now. I don't have the time. Seminars are boring.

If your company won't pay to send you to a class or seminar, here's an idea...pay for it yourself and consider it a great investment. But pick an activity that you are truly interested in and one that has received rave reviews from past participants. It seems that we still have the time and funds for premium TV channels, NetFlix, an upgrade to an iPhone, gourmet coffee, the salon, gym memberships...blah, blah, blah. Here's the reality check people - the way to compete for good jobs at good companies is to demonstrate that your knowledge and skills are current and you can bring new thinking, creativity and results to an organization. Now if you haven't taken a class since receiving that college degree 5, 7, 10 or more years ago...good luck with that approach. And if the last seminar you attended was "Tips for Debugging Windows ME", I suggest you avoid the topic of professional development at your next interview.

My point is this...skip the gourmet coffee, movie theatre or dining out for a month or two, or maybe even cancel HBO for the time being, and use that money to attend a class or a few targeted seminars. Look to professional associations, the continuing ed divison of local colleges, http://www.findaseminar.com/ to target and engage in learning that will peak your interest and give you latest and greatest info for your career.

Set yourself up for success by investing in the skills and knowledge you need to land a better fit, hopefully best fit career position.