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7 Magical Reasons Why professional development is important

Why is professional development important

I don’t want to grow up, because if I did, I wouldn’t be a Toy’s R’Us kid. Do you remember that magical song? That song you used to sing along to before you knew about sweatshops, living wages, and climate change? Well, I prefer not to live in ignorance and I’m grateful for professional development. This post will give you 7 answers to the question, “Why is professional development important?” and how having your “why” can give you back that magical joy you had as a child. 

I never liked doing work. As a Piscean, I’ve always wanted to spend my free time in my daydreams. A place where I was surrounded by only the best of everything. However, from a young age, my father has drilled into me the value of hard work and how this is the only way to truly exist in this world.

Now I’m a total sucker for it. I love working and I have found that reaching an accomplishment is way better than my actual daydreams. After reading this post you’ll feel the same.

This post is all about why professional development is important.

Why is professional development important

7 Reasons: Why is professional development important

1) You have choices

Who doesn’t want to feel like they have some ownership over their life? That they’re the ones controlling the wind beneath their sails?

I’ve worked in places where people were in jobs where there was no room for growth, where the biggest challenge was showing up for work, and where they were completely miserable. Some may refer to these kinds of jobs as deadbeat jobs. However, I’d like to refer to these individuals as people who no longer have the desire to develop professionally.

The truth is we confuse a certificate or a degree with professional development. Professional development is having a continued desire to grow and develop yourself. Recently I’ve come across a few college graduates who refuse to entertain the idea of working as a receptionist, mail clerk, or any other entry-level position. They don’t realize that a degree means you’ve learned something, it’s not a skip-the-line or a guarantee for opportunities. We all have to start somewhere.

The beauty is that when you’re a student for life you’ll always have an opportunity or choice. Because you my friend are the kind of person that would leave a situation they don’t like or take opportunities that are ignored and make them into something great.




2) You can defend and protect yourself

It can be a cruel world. Sometimes people try to take advantage of others, and sometimes companies profit over those who are not knowledgeable about their services or products. I’m sure we’ve all come across a greedy mechanic or a salesperson that had no interest in actually serving you.

When you push yourself to learn or at least fully understand anything that comes your way, then people can not take advantage of you. They’ll see by your questions and attention that they will need to be completely transparent when communicating with you.

Also when you’re more knowledgeable and you have the opportunity to connect with someone that genuinely has some interest in your well-being, then they’ll provide you with even better service in hopes of continuing that relationship with you. If there’s something that I’m a complete wizard with it’s how I organize and manage information. When I begin to speak about this topic I find myself surrounded by people that want to collaborate with me, because it piques their interest and they know I wouldn’t be wasting their time.

3) The future will become exciting

When does life become dull? It’s when there’s nothing new to do. There’s nothing new to see. Nothing interesting to read. And there’s nothing new to think about.

If you’ve been on this planet long enough to learn how to read the English language, then you know it is completely impossible to run out of ideas or thoughts during your lifetime. It’s impossible to even have the time to read the title of every book that has ever been written.

Having an interest in connecting with the world around you is a major pillar of professional development and if you honor this privilege and take advantage of the time you have, then you’ll grow to want to experience the world around you. Because it truly is a privilege to have a long lifespan and the world is anything but boring.

Once you’ve come to that realization, then you will only see mountains to climb and journeys to take before you reach your end.

4) You’ll be able to help others

Imagine you were in a position to really help others. To have a hand in someone else’s success and happiness. It’s a highly satisfying experience and one that I recommend above others.

As you push yourself to learn and grow it will inevitably influence the conversations you have with others. Sometimes it may even lead to those interactions and drive you to become closer. For example, I started working on my financial literacy at the beginning of 2021. Since then everyone in my immediate family has opened a Roth IRA and we’ve all started investing together. We’re literally changing the trajectory of our lives to one that is more secure, stable, and abundant.

If you could impact those around you, it’ll become a ripple effect and you’ll all succeed together. Why do you think creative geniuses come in groups? They’re all surrounded by people that rose with them. For example, take a look at Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. You couldn’t imagine one succeeding without the other. It’s because we need each other to make something great out of our lives.




5) You’ll get more because you see more

Do you remember the first job you ever had in your life? Your first experience in the real world making money? I’m sure you learned a lot and that it was a valuable experience. However, do you see how you’ve outgrown that position and how it has only led you to better and greater things?

We underestimate our potential and how much our lives could change. If you’re putting in the time and effort to continually outgrow what you’re doing, you’ll experience more out of life. You’ll impact more people and you’ll have a greater opportunity to create real change.

Professional development doesn’t allow you to get comfortable and just exist within a box. It demands you to analyze all the facets of that box until you find a way out.

One experience I’ve had countless times is visiting old co-workers that have had the same position for years. Now there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just not the kind of life I want. I want to see and do as much as possible and I’m assuming you feel the same if you’re still reading this post.

6) You pay your ancestors back and invest in future generations

You can measure your impact spiritually or logically either way with professional development you’re winning.

In a spiritual sense, I like to look at my opportunities, accomplishments, and experiences and think about what those moments would have meant to my ancestors. They clearly play a huge role in where I am now and I can’t imagine all the obstacles they have gone through in order for me to experience the life I’m currently living. I don’t believe I’m just myself. I believe I’m an accumulation of everything that has occurred and been achieved before me. And when your success is not just your own, the level of pride you achieve is one that leaves you with a beautiful responsibility to pass the torch.

In a logical sense, the better your position, the more opportunities you can create for your children and your children’s children. As a first-generation American I wasn’t born with a trust fund, a safety net, or access to the best schooling and I’m grateful that I’m in a position where I’m in two worlds and I’m able to bridge the gap for my children. FYI I do not have any babies but believe me I’m already thinking about custodial accounts and 529 plans (a brokerage account specifically targeted for schooling).

7) You can create something greater than yourself

Lastly, who doesn’t want to be greater than themselves? Now, this isn’t about vanity. It’s about generosity and impacting a whole community.

Professional development allows you to educate and inform others in ways that can change their lives for the better. You may find yourself creating businesses or helping others to find employment. The act of even working on yourself in this capacity could inspire others to also take charge of their lives and become greater than they’ve ever imagined. It’s a complete win for anyone that is slightly involved in someone’s professional development.

Imagine how much you could impact society as a whole when professional development becomes one of your top priorities in life. It’s an amazing and beautiful thing.




This post has the 7 reasons why professional development is important.

why is professional development important

Categories: All Blogs, Goals

7 Self development goals for work that will accelerate your career trajectory

Development Goals

You know how they say it’s not you, it’s me in romantic comedies? Well when it comes to your career and the opportunities you’re given, the complete opposite is true. Companies promote people that are hardworking and easy to work with. Don’t be a difficult character in the office. It’s easy to avoid falling into that pit. All you need to do is achieve these 7 self development goals for work.

I love people-watching and I work in a very big company where I’ve seen a lot of people get promoted and demoted. There’s a very clear difference in how they hold themselves and work with others. You can literally see who’s going to become a huge leader by how they treat you. You don’t need to be their boss or work directly with them to see who’s a shining star and who’s going to sink.

This post is going to walk you through the 7 goals you can set for yourself, in preparation for that amazing opportunity that will eventually come your way. Trust me if these items aren’t mastered before then, they can easily be the cause of your downfall.

This post is all about the 7 self development goals for work that will accelerate your career trajectory.

self development goals for work

7 Self Development Goals for Work

1) Find your organizational style

The tough part about being an adult is taking ownership of your actions. Of course, it doesn’t need to be tough but many people fail in this regard.

Someone who is on top of their game is a person that knows the status of every project they’re involved in and has tangible information that can be shared without receiving notice. So what does this look like? It means having excel sheets and documents that showcase where your project is in its life cycle. Also, it means having all the supplemental information that you could need available.

An example of this is let’s say you’re planning an event. You should know the status of the attendees, how close the presentation materials are to being finalized, and the logistical items that need to be set in place at all times.

Where people fail is when they assume that someone else will know all these details. If you’re a part of it, then you have part ownership. And as a part owner, you need to know everything that is happening. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers at the top of your mind (when you’re first starting and building this planning muscle) but your documents need to house this information. As a beginner, intermediate, or advanced planner your organizational style and planning materials will keep you in line.

2) Build a morning routine

Having a morning routine is the best way to set yourself up for success. Now I’m not talking about your breakfast, skincare, or commute. What I’m referencing is how you leverage time in the mornings before you start to work.

If you’re a snoozer and someone that rushes into the office late every now and then. I highly suggest you stop that immediately. No one is their best when they’re rushed and half asleep. Seriously those extra five minutes in the morning are not worth it.

Once you begin to get into the habit of arriving to work early and filling your time with activities that are beneficial to your personal development, you’ll become addicted. It’s a way of giving yourself time before you give your time away to your job.

When I was attending college full-time I would arrive at the office two hours early to complete my homework and study. Now I arrive early to work on my blog or to read a book on entrepreneurship. I can’t stress how satisfying it is to do something like this for yourself.

3) Pause before reacting

It’s only natural to become emotionally involved with your work. You will eventually become, if not already, passionate and have pride in the projects you take part in.

That being said, you’re not the only one that is going to start feeling this way. Disagreements are due to arrive and they lead to healthy conversations that can take your work to the next level. It’s important to honor your coworkers by respectfully listening to their opinions. The best way to do this is to pause before you react. Fully take in what others have to say and ask them questions about their viewpoints to better understand where their reasoning is coming from.

After you’ve taken everything in, and you’ve taken your pause think about how you’d like to articulate your feedback in a manner that is respectful of everyone’s time and energy.

4) Keep Secrets

You’re bound to make a friend or two. That’s great! Now don’t forget to be a great human being. Become the trusted confidant that everyone loves.

Make sure that you never share what you discuss with other people. The last thing you want is for people to question your merit and remove you from confidential projects due to your desire to overshare.

The best way to avoid finding yourself in this situation is by listening. The more time you spend listening to people, the less time you’ll lose talking. Also if you want to speak about something that is relevant, just share your personal (factually based) thoughts and concerns. There’s no need to mention people that are not present.

Keeping secrets may seem obvious but sometimes you forget who knows what. The best thing to do is not to know anything personal. Believe me, this one could probably hurt you the most in an office environment. What you share goes beyond you and that’s how reputations are made.

5) Meet at least one new person a month

Now it’s time to meet someone new. This may seem like a lot of work for some of you. And ghee wiz it is. You have to put yourself out there and intentionally schedule chats and lunch dates with new people. The beautiful thing is that before you know it, you’ll have a network of people that you can call your community.

Connecting with other employees in your company will help you better understand the landscape of your business, you’ll have an awareness of the different opportunities that are available to you and you’ll make new friends.

It’s a win, win, win. Networking has helped me not only find opportunities for myself but find opportunities for my friends. We’re all in this together, and once we ban together we could move mountains. A single ant is nothing but an ant colony could cause a pretty big ruckus.

Also, they say people usually quit their jobs not because of the actual work but because they don’t like their boss. Once you have a community, you can easily find a boss you like if that’s what you’re searching for.

6) Solve your own problems

We’ll all have moments where we come across larger-than-life obstacles. Usually, you’ll have a few people and resources that you could look to for guidance. However, if that’s not the case, then it’s your duty to solve the problem.

There’s nothing worse than coming across someone that only knows how to complain. You offer them possible solutions but they refuse to get their head out of the sand. This builds tension, delays finding the solution, drives you crazy, and makes no one like you.

There are also cases where you’re not that person but after searching high and low no one knows how to solve the problem. What do you do in that case? Do you say I don’t know and no one knows, so let’s drop it?

Absolutely not you become obsessed with solving it. And you become obsessed with the idea of being able to help yourself and your coworkers if the issue should ever arise again. This personifies what being a leader is. It’s taking on these challenges, becoming someone that people trust, and transforming into a master problem solver.

7) Create an environment of gratefulness

Don’t you love getting a pat on the back? Isn’t wonderful when you’re acknowledged for the work that you do and thrilling when someone thanks you?

Always remember and thank the people that assist you as you do your job. When you share your wins with others, they’ll be more inclined to want to work with you. You’re unintentionally making them part owner when they assist you. And as a part owner, they should also reap the rewards when things are done right.

It’ll encourage them to continue to participate in this working relationship in an enthusiastic manner. Also, it makes your life easier because now you have someone that you can rely on when you need assistance.

They call it a dream team for a reason. It takes a team to make a dream a reality. Not one person. And it’s the simplest thing you can do. Once you start you’ll be shocked by how you somehow keep finding all these amazing people to work with. It makes things fun.

This post was all about the 7 self development goals for work that will accelerate your career trajectory.

Development Goals

Categories: All Blogs, Self Development

13 life-changing Development Work hacks that will save you time

Development Work

Do you ever find yourself feeling like a robot while at work? It’s hard not to when a large portion of your time is dedicated to manual and tedious tasks. In order to focus on the tasks that challenge and satisfy you, you need to incorporate some development work hacks into your arsenal.

Not too long ago I decided to track everything I did at work. I did this because I was exhausted, I felt like I was getting nothing done and I wasn’t satisfied. What I came to realize was that the majority of my time and energy was spent on things that did not benefit my top priorities, they were labor-intensive and had little to no return on investment.

After reading this post you’ll have 13 ways to make your life a thousand times easier. You’ll understand what red flags look like in an office setting and you’ll have guidance on how to handle them. The goal is to have a job that develops and fulfills you. Not one that makes you feel like a babysitter.

This post is all about the 13 life-changing development work hacks that you need to adopt in order to save time.

Development Work

Development Work Hacks: Communication

1) Time block when you’ll respond to emails

This happens to everyone. You find yourself in a groove, getting things done, but then an email comes in and you respond. Two hours pass and all you’ve done is respond to emails.

It’s essential to answer your emails in a timely manner but the problem is it’s a black hole that’s difficult to escape. You lose sight of what you’re trying to accomplish and instead spend time assisting others.

Blocking off time on your calendar to respond to emails will give you the best of both worlds. You’ll be able to assist and answer others while completing your projects.

2) Put on a do not disturb-status while working

Along with emails, most companies allow their employees to ping and message each other throughout the day. Again this can be quite disturbing to your workflow and now there’s a request you can’t avoid or deny because it’s been made in real-time.

Change your online status to “Busy” or “Do not disturb”. I had to do this recently because I was working on a few projects and I wasn’t able to work on any one of them fully due to the different collaborators that requested my immediate attention. Once you change your status you’re able to protect your time and improve the quality of the work you’re delivering.

3) Reduce the number of meetings you need to attend

People love to have meetings and they can be very enlightening when clear agendas and goals are set beforehand. However, every now and then you’re invited to one that does not follow those two standards. Avoid attending these meetings.

If you do not, you’ll find that people would like to set agendas and goals together, which is fine if you have time for it. Nonetheless, it’s inefficient to have a pre-meeting before the meeting. It only takes one person to set up the guidelines.

4) Pay full attention to the meetings you join

Once you decide to attend a meeting make sure to give it your full attention. Otherwise, you just wasted your time and everyone else’s time.

When you pay attention in meetings, you’re able to ask the right questions and solve problems together as a team. The worse is when an issue keeps getting revisited because people become aware of what was being discussed after the fact.

You need to come prepared with your game face. Ready to question and work through any issues together.

5) Share your takeaways with other attendees

During meetings, people typically take notes for themselves. That is great and highly recommended.

Another action that is highly recommended is to share your takeaways and calls to action. This allows the team to be on the same page and informs everyone of what their responsibility is. Also, it allows you to be corrected in case you misunderstood something.

It’s a huge timesaver and allows you to truly have productive and efficient meetings.

Development Work Hacks: Tasks

6) Spend the first half hour to an hour responding to emails and planning what tasks you’ll tackle

When first starting your day, you surely have a few emails that have come in and a few meetings scheduled for the day.

Go through your schedule for the day and time block or update it based on your goals. Doing this will prevent you from spending hours on one project, it allows you to complete the most urgent items, and scheduling little breaks now, before you start, gives you permission to recharge throughout the day.

It’s all about balance, we want to bring our best selves to our work.

7) Spend your mornings on the difficult tasks

It’s only natural for you to get tired as the day goes on. Usually, people have a coffee first thing in the morning to wake themselves up and by the end of the day, they’re crashing. Use this to your advantage.

Set up your most complex and difficult challenges for the beginning of the day. Confronting these problems first thing in the morning allows you to have the whole day to work through them and it gives you the opportunity to step away and come back to them more freely. Do not procrastinate on your tasks.

Also if you spend your afternoons on meetings, you won’t be distracted by the projects you need to work through and you’ll be able to provide an update on your work if needed.

8) Question tasks before you accept them

Once you become a helpful and valuable member of your team, random people will start coming to you with all sorts of requests. You’ve helped them once, so you’ll probably help them again or so they think.

It’s great to be in this position but we also want to be mindful of our time and how things operate. Before accepting requests, question why you’re receiving them in the first place. Are you even the best person to complete it?

This protects your time, your team, and the quality of the work that is being produced.

9) Track your work

We all need to keep track of the items we’re working through. Most likely you’ll be working on multiple projects at once.

Stay on top of all of your responsibilities and deadlines by tracking them. You can use excel or even a word document.

Doing this allows you to revisit the project and know exactly what your next steps and status are. Without it, you can lose a lot of time going through documents and emails to figure out if a project is closed or to define what’s missing.

10) Spend your last hour of work wrapping things up

It’s tempting to spend the last hour of your day getting one more thing done. If you adopt this habit you’ll find yourself working later than scheduled more times than not. It’s easy to underestimate how much time something will take.

The recommendation is to spend your last hour cleaning and organizing the items you completed that day and answering emails.

You don’t want to be rushing against the clock and you don’t want to leave for the day with unanswered emails in your inbox.

Development Work Hacks: Outside of Work

11) Be strategic with where you sit in the office

It’s important to socialize with your coworkers and build strong relationships. Still, you don’t want to find yourself completely distracted. Be strategic with where you sit.

The best thing to do is to sit close enough to your friendly coworkers so that you can visit them throughout the day but not next to them. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in a conversation that lasts the whole day.

Remember you want to protect your time and their time.

12) Make time to be social

With that being said, socializing and networking are incredibly important and beneficial for your career. Schedule time to have catchups and to go out for drinks with your coworkers.

It’s during these conversations that you learn about new opportunities and people that you should connect with. Working in an office environment is very political.

The goal is to be ambitious and hardworking along with being the most popular person in school. Once you’re able to balance those two items, the sky’s the limit for you.

13) Be flexible (The most underrated development work hack)

Give yourself grace. We aren’t always able to meet our deadlines without sacrificing our free time and we may find ourselves in crisis mode as urgent matters pop up. It happens. You may have to once and while forget all of these tips and that’s okay.

Just make sure to reward yourself when you find yourself in these kinds of situations, and make sure they’re the exception not the standard. Meaning – make sure this doesn’t become an everyday thing. Your bosses will appreciate your hard work but remember that this is only temporary.

This post was all about development work hacks that could save your life.

Development Work