For each skill you possess, it was once new. Working to expand and strengthen your skill set is valuable to any employer.
Here are seven tips for developing your skills:
1. Be curious
Curiosity is essential because it makes the process of developing skills much more enjoyable. If you are curious, you will naturally want to know more simply because it’s fun. You will go further and deeper than those who develop their skills because they must.
Here are some things you can do to build curiosity:
- Don’t say that something is boring
Saying that something is boring is killing curiosity since it closes door of possibilities. - Make asking a habit
Often we take things for granted and accept them as they are. Don’t. Build the habit of digging deeper below the surface. Your tool to do that is questions. - Make things fun
Don’t just look at the serious side of things. Look at their fun side too.
2. Develop your learning skill
Learning skill should be the first skill you develop because it greatly helps you develop other skills. An essential ingredient to have good learning skill is motivation. If you are motivated to learn about a subject, it will be much easier for you to learn it. Again, curiosity plays an important role here because a curious person is naturally motivated.
3. Be a versatilist
A versatilist is someone who can easily adapt to new situations and quickly develop the skills necessary to excel. Being a versatilist essentially means being a learner who knows what to learn and how to quickly learn it.
To know what to learn, a versatilist should anticipate the future. That way he will get a sense of what new skills will be in demand and prepare himself before most people do.
4. Find your role models
It will be easier for you to grow if you have concrete examples of what you want to be. That’s why it’s important to find your role models. Your role models give you a standard to achieve so that you know where and how far you should go in developing your skills. It will also motivate you since you know that someone has already achieved such high standard.
5. Find your mentors
While having role models is good, in many cases you can’t connect directly with them. But developing skills will be much easier if you work with those who have gone through it. That’s why you should find not just role models but also mentors. Ideally your mentors are also your role models but at least they are those who are more experienced than you. These people can teach you what to do and what not to do so that you don’t have to find them yourself the hard way. You can save a lot of time.
Finding mentors, of course, is not easy. Often you should give first before someone is willing to become your mentor. Try to be useful to them by helping them in whatever way you can. Give them a reason to invest their time in you.
Take one or more of these steps today to continue learning and expanding your skills!
Source: Life Optimizer: 7 Essential Tips for Developing Skills
