Opportunities to Learn
When I decided to have a blog on my new website - I thought this will be fun and give me a great forum for sharing my experience, knowledge and training advice with others.
Writing the first one was easy - "Welcome to my Blog"! So, when I sat down to write Post #2 - laptop in front of me and hands on the keyboard ready to write….but nothing came out! Seriously?? So many thoughts were swirling around in my head, but I could not grab a single one and bring it down from my mind onto the screen. Was it that hard to write a simple blog post? Apparently it is! Or at least that is what experts told me in the all of the YouTube "How To" videos I watched after this happened, and believe me - I watched a lot and I learned a lot!
Who knew that there was an actual process to this thing called Blogging! Some gave step by step guides, some had tips and tricks to follow, others told you what NOT to do. It was all very helpful and while some of the videos had been made a few years ago, the content remained relevant. So - I sat down again exactly as before, but this time I knew what I wanted to say because not only did watching the videos on learning all of the How To videos teach me about blogging, but it fit right it to a concept that I have always tried to instill into my teams over the years….SO…
OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN
We never know where opportunities will come from for us to learn, to grow, to grab tidbits of information in places that we never thought to look or in jobs we think we are "stuck" in or from people we never thought to ask. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. I thought just because I was a Subject Matter Expert in my field, that I could sit down and write a fantastic blog off the top of my head. I found out very quickly that I could not. I needed help - I needed to learn about blogging.
No matter where we are at in our jobs, education or careers, we all should be continually seeking new learning opportunities. As adults, I think we are programmed to want to believe in a certain level of comfort and security in our jobs/career. I had a boss that used to say "Don't ever get comfortable in your job". I was much younger then and it took me a bit of time to really understand what that meant, so I'll share with you all now what I feel it means and how to avoid it…
Comfortable by definition is being in a state of ease, which when you think about it, can be a conflict of interest to what we need to feel or be at work. If we ease up or are in at state of comfort or get comfortable at work, we tend to relax - this could and often does effect our performance at work. This leads to how effective we are in our jobs, lack of customer service and complacency.
When we are in a state of continual growth, learning, advancing and/or betterment there is NO time to get comfortable. This takes work and perseverance as we do not get learning opportunities handed to us consistently. As a workforce, we own our development 100% always. Our managers, leaders, etc. may give us guidance and tools to help us, but it is always up to us to drive our success. Seek out and drive your success, whether you are in your forever job or just a stepping stone job, you can always find learning opportunities. (I will cover this in more detail in an upcoming podcast)
My last bit of advice that I ask all of you to try is to learn at least TWO new things a day. I know - usually it is ONE new thing a day, right? I'm giving you a stretch assignment:
One new thing within your field of expertise (anything you did not know before) and remember - it does NOT have to be huge - it can be a small thing. Seek out colleagues, cross-functional Departments, white papers, leaders, do a little research about a customer or client to find out something about them that you didn’t know before. There are so many ways to do this. By doing this each day - it becomes a habit and over the course of time, you are building more and more knowledge.
One new thing outside your field of expertise - it can be personal, creative, another field of interest, etc. Let's not be so focused on work, that we forget the rest of the world - especially now - find something that interests YOU!! You are worth it! :-)
That's all for this time! Please be sure to leave me a comment, a question, etc. I will answer each and every one!
Thanks you!
