Stay Ahead of the Game with New Skills

It is human instinct to feel valued or be recognized – for your values, a specific skill, or some unique good quality that makes you distinct from others. However, just focusing on one skill or one quality can make you complacent and soon fall aside.

“In a fast-moving, competitive world, being able to learn new skills is one of the keys to success. It’s not enough to be smart — you need to always be getting smarter,” says Heidi Grant Halvorson, a motivational psychologist.

“We need to constantly look for opportunities to stretch ourselves in ways that may not always feel comfortable at first. Continual improvement is necessary to get ahead,” says Joseph Weintraub, a professor of management and organizational behavior at Babson College and coauthor of the book, “The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business”,

Instead of focusing your efforts in mastering one specific skill or task, you should strive to get proficient at a few related skills that can be woven together into a wider skill set to make you more marketable, a better professional or get better at some general life abilities, according to an article published in The New York Times. “Stop Trying to Master One Skill. Instead, Build a Skill Set”.

Here are some guidelines to follow in your pursuit for self-improvement:

1. Is the goal attainable?

It is important to check if you are ready to work on developing a new skill. First, ask yourself if your goal is attainable? Second, how much time and energy can you give to learning the new skill or work on a particular project to develop that skill? Learning a new skill takes extreme commitment. Unless your goal is attainable and you’re geared up to work hard, you may not get very far.

2. Is the new skill needed?

Make sure that the skill you want to develop is relevant to your career and/or organization. Unless you absolutely need the skill for your job, or for a future position, you may not get support from your manager or organization. Learning the skill is an investment you are making in yourself, so be sure that it will fetch you the returns you want.

3. Seek help from right people

Eliciting support from others can greatly increase learning, so seek help from someone who has mastered that skill in your organization. If you can’t find a good teacher or mentor in your own organization, then seek help from someone in your industry or your network who has attained that skill.

4. Take small steps

Take baby steps to self improvement or learning a new skill so that it will make you confident and enthusiastic, rather than overwhelming. Focus on the time, and break that skill down into manageable goals. Start exhibiting those skills and seek feedback. Learning will not happen overnight, so be patient and give yourself enough time to practice and master the skill.

5. Reflect on your learning

As you move along learning the new skill, reflect on it so that it gets etched in your mind. Start applying those skills where applicable. Discuss the doubts or your progress with your mentor and seek valuable feedback, take accountability and experience change.

6. Teach others

One of the quickest ways to learn something new, and to practice it, is to teach others how to do it. So share what you learn with your team, your manager, or your co-workers.

Now that you have some tips to embark on development of new skill set or plan to finish that online course you’ve been putting off for over a year, make it happen now!