A Great Career Is Built By Evolution, Not By Revolution
Professional success is personal and determined by an individual's preference. As opposed to earning a high income, making great achievements and having a high status in the society are wonderful too. Career success for some people can also mean achieving a perfect work-life balance, job stability, and living a life with a relatively low-stress level. Basically, success in the workplace means you're a valuable commodity in the professional world.
Almost everyone has some sort of career aspiration and goal they would like to achieve in the future. A lot of factors affect the achievement of these goals. The level of an individual's education, his or her interest, skills and competence, values, goals, and vision have significant roles to play in the development of an individual's career. In the modern world, evolution - and the process of it - is the major deciding factor in the realization of your career goals. Evolution in this sense means personal development. An individual that evolves (attains personal growth) in response to the changing tides and seasons will achieve great relevance, mastery and recognition in any field.
If professional success is important to you, then you should also care about personal development. While the major, long-term objective of career success can seem daunting and difficult to achieve, it becomes much more feasible and achievable when self-development is given utmost importance.
Self-development refers to those activities that are engaged in to improve one's talents, skills, competence, employability and ability to perform excellently at different tasks. Basically, it is a set of conscious habits and activities whose sole purpose is to improve your life. It is the pursuit of personal growth to heighten the quality of life and ensure personal success.
Personal development entails a lifetime journey, a process that is never-ending. As the practical act of setting career goals entails self-motivation, the achievement of these goals is powered by our desire to meet certain needs. These needs change with different circumstances and situations. In the workplace, for example, it might be the desire to climb the corporate ladder and hold a high position within the ranks. On the other hand, if you're a business person, it might be turning your struggling business into a thriving one or making an already successful business a pacesetter in your chosen industry.
The point here is, at every point in life, as certain needs are fulfilled, new ones take their place. This simply means that personal development is a life-time process. There's no end to it. It's a steep of learning that goes on and on. There are major categories of self-development that play significant roles in the building a great career. They are; Personal Growth, Personal Skills and Personal Power.
- Personal Growth
This is constantly improving every "edition" of yourself until you become a better version of yourself time and time again. It is a constant evolution of your skills, ability, mindset and attitudes in such a way that it enhances your growth and development as a person.
- Personal Power
This involves developing a circle of relevant people around you. It is basically the worth of your social contact as a person. Having the right, like-minded people who are willing to help you in your life during the pursuit of career goals can open useful doors. Personal power also refers to your net worth as a person. Money in the bank means the freedom to choose and explore other opportunities as they present themselves.
- Personal Skills
Knowing and consciously developing areas in which you are gifted will come in handy in various situations, especially in the workplace. Professionals who earn the highest are those who focus on growing their personal skills beyond the average level. This ensures mastery in their chosen field and high income.
Although the particular skills needed to get a particular job done is more emphasized in the workplace, career success is closely related to constant personal development. It is the professionals that are committed to ongoing learning and improvement that reach the heights of their career. When personal development is given the attention it deserves, it can make an outstanding impact, not just on your work-life but on your personal life as well.
Here are a few reasons why personal development is a must for the achievement of your career goals:
- Personal development gives accurate feedback about your current competence level
Organizations may not give accurate feedback about an employee's level of all-round competence, as long as the job is done. Some organizations might give feedback with very limited scope. Thus, the best way to assess one's level of competence is through constant personal development. Personal development gives professionals an insight into what skills they're lacking and what skills should be refined and improved upon.
Knowing where to improve enhances competence and personal development leaves no room for untended weaknesses. When you engage in constant self-development, you sharpen your skills by taking part in professional courses that provide certification or not, reading expansively, engaging in mentorship sessions and consciously looking back at past experiences and learning from them.
- Personal development helps you define your personal vision
Knowing where you are right now and where you want to be in months’ time or years down the line is important in career development. Personal development helps you in drawing up and clarifying your vision which gives you a clear destination of where you want to be in the next few years or months.
- It improves productivity in business and in the workplace
Personal development is an effectiveness booster. It empowers staff to meet company goals/targets and produce better results. A leading cause of dismal performances and low productivity in the workplace is the lack of adequate and constant training. Researchers and Human Resource personnel have found that the development of a personal improvement plan for employees within an organization can increase productivity up to ten times and goes a long way in ensuring that the corporate objectives of that organization are met.
- Helps to keep Clients' and Customers' confidence in your business
Constant self-improvement for you and your employees will invariably mean that you continually improve the standard/quality of the products or services you offer. This goes a long way in establishing your customers' or clients' trust in the value of your business. When Customers' and Clients' are happy with the consistent results of your company, they'll be more likely to recommend your business to someone else which, in turn, lead to more sales. Personal development is not just a means of realizing organizational objectives, it has a huge role to play in how your business is perceived.
- It ensures motivation, satisfaction and freedom
The availability of personal development plans serves as a motivation for professionals to do and be more. When the skills, knowledge and training are put into use or come in handy in practical work situations and they see the end result as improved productivity, it gives them an undefinable sense of satisfaction.
More so, in the current information-conscious society, earning good money is no longer enough to keep employees loyal to an employer. When opportunities for personal improvement are lacking, employees are more likely to go elsewhere where growth is available. Thus, personal development enhances employee freedom. It empowers them to take control of their work-life and not get controlled.
- It showcases your hidden talents and skills
Personal development enhances self-discovery and awareness. The development of multiple skills enables you to identify the one you excel most in. When you have a natural knack for something, you do it with relative ease, you enjoy doing it and can perform really well at it with little or no supervision. If you haven't discovered any hidden talent in you, then constant personal development gives you a great opportunity to do so.
Conclusion
It is safe to say that the principal goal of every working man or woman is a great career. However, professional success is defined in so many ways. It might be landing your dream job, starting and running a successful business, getting promotion to a high position in your workplace or just making a lot of money from what you love doing.
Whatever your career goals are, a major prerequisite for realizing them is an evolution - of yourself and your skills. It's very rare that an individual will attain professional success without putting in conscious effort. Success comes with a price and most often, the price in the professional world is a prerequisite of relevant education and knowledge and the confidence that comes with experience.
As a force that fosters growth and progress, self-development is an important aspect of your work life and growth strategy as professionals. It has many far-reaching benefits. However, time and resources invested in improving yourself (and if you're an employer, your employees) are never wasted. Overall, focusing on your own personal development - your personal evolution - enhances everything that matters to your work life and will definitely help you turn those dreams and aspirations into magnificent realities.
