People with essential roles in society and the economy didn’t just magically wake up knowing everything they needed to perform their responsibilities. Although it may be comforting to think that growing as an individual is easy, the reality is that these people put in their blood, sweat, and tears to achieve what they have now.
Nothing worth having ever comes easy. Even if you’re not planning to change the world or lead an entire country, you’ll still benefit from improving yourself and working towards your growth. So if you don’t know where to begin, here are three things you should invest in for your personal growth:
Lifelong Learning
Learning shouldn’t end the moment you graduate high school or college. It doesn’t end when you earn your certificate or bachelor’s degree. Truth be told, the act of learning should never end because that’s you can continuously adapt to your rapidly-changing environment and move forward with your life.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that most adults make after they leave behind the structured educational system. They think that they no longer need to learn new skills or improve what they know because they’ve learned enough during their undergraduate years. And while that may be true on some level, lifelong learning is still the best solution.
In essence, lifelong learning is defined as the practice of self-initiated study through non-traditional methods. This can include studying through online learning platforms, attending workshops or seminars about topics relevant to their industries, and adapting new skills that can benefit their day-to-day lives.
Lifelong learning goes beyond what the formal educational system can offer people. Through these various learning methods, you can continuously build your skills, enhance your existing knowledge, and contribute to your organization in more ways than you could imagine. That’s why you shouldn’t dismiss the idea of lifelong learning outright, especially if you haven’t experienced it yourself.
Hands-on Experience
If you’re more of a kinesthetic learner, you may be able to flourish better in an actual work environment than in a digital or physical classroom. By applying what you learned directly in a real-life situation, you might be able to learn more skills and work towards building your career.
To do this, you can sign up for traineeship programs that will allow you to learn directly under the supervision of industry experts. This gives you more hands-on experience in the career path you want to take and helps you learn the skills you need better than any other learning method.
Aside from this, you can also apply for internships and on-the-job training in various companies that belong to the industry you want to pursue. Of course, you have to weigh all the pros and cons of your options before you sign any contracts. But no matter what you end up choosing, you’ll be able to gain valuable hands-on experience that you won’t be able to get anywhere else.
Volunteering
Working on your personal and professional growth doesn’t end with just having the hard skills to succeed in your chosen career path. Instead, it’s also about gaining soft and transferable skills that can help you navigate your way through the professional world without having to sacrifice your integrity.
To stand out from the workforce, you’ll need to show that you’re an indispensable member of the team. You know how to manage your time well, and you have the confidence of a leader who dreams of success not only for yourself but for the people that depend on you too. Moreover, you need to have a strong work ethic.
These skills cannot be taught inside a classroom, but you can learn them by volunteering in various organizations and causes. By giving back to the community and helping other people without monetary gain as the sole motivator, you’ll be able to focus more on growing as a flexible person who can work well with others.
Volunteering can also help you hone your emotional intelligence and expose you to people from all walks of life. Immersing yourself in the community you belong to will humble you and give you the vital life skills that you need to succeed in whatever career path you choose for yourself.
Progress needs to happen continuously for it to reap the rewards. But even if you work towards bettering yourself every day, you must understand that there will be good and bad days because progress is non-linear. One day, you can be on top of the world, but the next, you’re down a slippery slope again.
But you have to remember that experiencing a bad day doesn’t mean you’re back to square one. It means that you’re having a setback, which is perfectly normal when you’re working on and building a life for yourself. So don’t be afraid of failures; in fact, you should embrace them wholeheartedly because that’s how you can grow more as a person.
