In today’s globally connected world, there are exponentially more opportunities to improve yourself and move ahead in your career. Unfortunately, increased access means that simply doing your job well is no longer a guaranteed method of furthering your career.
Nowadays, the onus is on you to improve yourself and to go above and beyond the expectations of your boss and those around you. To that end, we have compiled a list of the six most effective ways to improve yourself professionally across the board.
- Improve personal productivity by eliminating procrastination.
Perhaps the most important strategy on this list is to decrease, or eliminate, procrastination. This is a common human predicament but ranks highest in terms of what makes you a less effective person. One of the best ways to help yourself defeat procrastination is to make a list of tasks for the day.
The act of crossing items of the list helps you motivate yourself to get things done and once you’ve completed all the items you feel more accomplished. At the end of the day, it’s not about making more time for work, but rather about maximizing the time you do have.
- Plan out the next five years
One thing that stagnates some people is a lack of direction. While you may excel at your current job and have long-term goals that drive your work ethic, it may be helpful to make a five-year plan. One thing this encourages is breaking your long-term goals into shorter, more easily attainable goals.
It also helps you think through exactly how you will reach them. Try writing out where you want to be professionally for the next several years and this will help guide your actions in the short term and benefit you greatly in the long term.
- Professional reading
You may have heard the phrase “leaders are readers.” If you look at some of the most successful professionals in any career path, one common thread is that they all maintain large professional libraries. Often, many bosses and companies have a professional reading list, which consists of several books they recommend, which will help you become more proficient at your chosen profession.
Professional reading in your area is one way to learn from the best. If you do not have a professional reading list available from your company, you can easily find specific lists of recommended books on the internet.
- Find a mentor
While professional reading helps you learn from the experts in the field, finding a mentor is one way to dialogue with and think critically about your job. Usually, there are both formal and informal mentorship relationships. The first is either provided by your company and often facilitated with a signup sheet or is just initiated when someone senior asks to mentor you.
More often than not, however, mentorship is informal. The best way to form these relationships is to find someone senior to you who is invested in your success, or simply interested in seeing you do well. Pick this person’s brain as much as possible and take advantage of the opportunity to learn from them. The benefits of a solid mentorship relationship can be endless.
- Online courses
One easy way to improve yourself professionally is to enrol in courses online, such as network support courses. These can help you learn more about your job as well as gain important certifications pertaining to your industry. Often, online courses do not cost very much, or even can be accessed for free through your company. This is an easy way to take advantage of the tools provided in the 21st century and better yourself professionally.
However, if you are aiming to be in the health industry and online courses aren’t enough, you can find schools or programs where you can grow and develop. To apply for a nursing program, it is imperative that you have the necessary requirements and look for schools that have an excellent reputation in the nursing field and offer quality education and training. A reputable nursing program will provide you with the best education and training to help you succeed in your career.
- Shore up your weaknesses
This final strategy underscores most of the previous tips. The best way to improve yourself professionally is not necessarily to keep doing the thing you are good at, but rather, to improve the areas you are not so good at. While you certainly want to focus your efforts into the tasks and jobs you excel at, neglecting your weaknesses can be a surefire way to shoot yourself in the foot professionally.
What this means is when you are doing your professional reading, be sure to read books pertaining to areas you are weak in. Leverage your mentor to gain knowledge about fields you don’t know so much about. All this will make you a better-rounded professional and contribute to your long-term progression in your company.
Ultimately, improving yourself professionally comes down to a true desire to learn and grow. The strategies in this article are a great place to start if you want to determine how to get better at your job, no matter the profession. If you show commitment to excellence and the drive to improve, you will surely move ahead and excel, no matter your position.
