3. START A PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY OF YOUR OWN.
Designate a place at home, or at the office, where you will put the articles, journals, books, and other methods of study that you are using to grow. Think of it as your “weight room” of the mind where you’ll get stronger and more resilient.
4. MAKE A COMMITMENT TO TRY SOMETHING NEW AND CHALLENGING.
Stretch yourself beyond what you know you can already do. Accept an assignment or push an idea forward that will tax your skills and ability. Why make the effort? Here’s a parallel from the world of health. Muscles only get stronger one way: through resistance. As a result of pushing yourself with a new challenge, you’ll be stronger as a professional.
5. EVALUATE WHETHER YOU’RE BEING A CHANGE AGENT.
The ultimate goal of professional and personal development is to facilitate change. You don’t have to be a world-beater, but you do want your presence to be felt in your field and in your network. Extend your own vision, call for change when necessary, make waves even. Don’t just go with the flow – that’s for dead fish!
As long as change is inevitable, you should use its momentum to carry you along. Invest in yourself and be prepared to hitch a ride on the power of the future – the certainty of change.
I know some of you will read this and think, okay I’ll try these resolutions and see if they’ll work. There’s a scene in a favorite movie of mine, Star Wars, in which Yoda is teaching a young Luke how to be a Jedi Knight. Yoda instructs Luke to do something and Luke responds with,”I’ll give it a try,” to which Yoda responds, “No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try!”
I say, “Do!”
