It can be very easy to become rigid and set in our ways when it comes to our careers. Often we will have invested a considerable amount of time, effort, and money to get to where we are right now. Perhaps you had your mind set on achieving the career that you are in from a young age, and considering anything else might be somewhat difficult to deal with. However, there are many good reasons that you should widen your scope and aim to widen your skillset.
Even if you are remaining in your career choice, having a skill range that is broader than your job description will open you up to a more enriching work life. You may find that you become more useful in the workplace, and you may end up finding greater motivation.
They say that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. The fact of the matter is that we should always be in a state of perpetual learning. Whether you are taking a two-day InDesign Training Course to learn how to use software that you are unfamiliar with, or if you are wanting to take a degree in people management; having additional strings to your bow will not hurt you. Here are a few reasons why, and some ways to stop yourself from getting stuck in a career rut through possessing a stale skillset
Complacency Breeds Mediocrity
Once you have been doing a job for some time, it may well feel as though you are able to do it with your eyes closed. If you think that you know everything that there is, and have experienced all that your career could throw at you there are a couple of things that could go drastically wrong for you.
You may hit a bump in the road that catches you completely off guard. A problem may occur that you believe that you can handle because it appears to be so similar to others that you have dealt with countless times in the past. But this time, you may not know how to handle it so well and it may be very different from others that you have encountered This is complacency catching you off guard. This can happen when you are not in a state where you are allowing yourself to learn anymore.
The other side of the complacency coin is that it stumps your motivation. Having a lack of drive can come from hitting your targets too many times. If the goalposts are set too wide, you will stop aiming after a while because you will always get the ball into the goal. Eventually, you will have stopped paying attention because you are no longer trying, and that is when you will be failing without even knowing or caring.
Predicting The Future Of Your Industry
The world is an ever-changing place, and there has never such rapid change as those that we have seen in the last couple of decades. Technology has made so much obsolete. The way that we do business and interact with people has changed exponentially and shows no sign of slowing down either. When you consider that the smartphone has only been with us for just over a decade, yet within a very short length of time it has become indispensable and ubiquitous in every aspect of our lives.
The skills that you currently use may well be affected by developments in new technology. Even jobs that you would not imagine changing in the technological revolution may well find that they are affected by proxy.
You may need to use new technologies in order to meet the demands of your customers, your industry, or your bosses.
The other area that businesses can be altered out of the blue could be on a financial basis. The economy is always going to fluctuate, and things change. Companies go out of business, and entire sectors can collapse without much notice. You can barely watch the news without hearing about a major employer closing or restructuring to save themselves.
More Skills Makes You More Marketable
Whether or not all of the skills that you have got are relevant to your area of business is somewhat irrelevant. Having a broad and ever-evolving range of skills shows that you have the ability to learn. That open-mindedness can speak volumes to potential employers who will want someone who will be able to adapt and learn.
Of course, having the skills that are specifically targetted to that particular industry will always be important.
Learning New Skills Makes You Happier
One of the best things about learning a new skill is the effect that it has on your mental health. The increase in self-confidence gained by learning something new can really push you into a much better place mentally. Keeping your mind occupied is also very good for you as it staves off depression, and can even be useful in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
How To Get New Skills
There has never been a better time to get new skills in your life. You can take up courses in so many different places. Your local colleges and universities may have some higher-level academic courses that may be of use. Similarly, you could look at evening classes. They may be run in community centers. Online and distance learning can be very good options too, and you should not overlook doing short, free, online courses too, as they may sew the seeds of future learning.
We all learn in different ways, and as such we will find some learning experiences better suited to us than others. You may learn better by reading about a subject, or you may need to be able to apply the knowledge into a practical situation in order to understand it fully.
Your learning style may dictate the route into learning that you choose. When you look at a prospectus, find out how the course is taught and assessed and think about if that works well for you.
