I’m going to ask a question and I’m confident that many of you reading this won’t do it.
Do you train yourself?
If you were to ask most people why they don’t develop themselves they’d generally say “Because I don’t have time.”
I don’t know how much time people think is needed for self development. But it certainly isn’t as much as they may think.
I am an advocate of personal development. It’s why I started this blog. But I don’t spend every single waking hour that I’m not working pursuing self development goals. I watch TV, chill out, go shopping, play video games and everything else that other people do. I just use some of my time to develop myself. I don’t even do that every day or even every week for that matter. I do it when I’m in the mood or when the opportunity arises.
My favourite learning opportunities are listed below:
Automobile University
Free to attend. Lots of travel involved. Study when you want. (Dangerous if you’re reading a book while driving. Best to listen to audio books.)
Bedtime Campus
Free to attend. Very comfortable. Study when you want. (Danger of falling asleep while learning.)
Sofa College
Free to attend. Study when you want. Comfortable. (TV in the background could be a distraction.)
It’s the slivers of time that count and grabbing them when the opportunity arises. Because those slivers soon mount up into a big chunk of time.
Imagine this investment in your own development in a typical day.
20 minutes listening to audio books driving to work.
5 minutes browsing the web looking at TED or mindtools.com.
10 minutes reading a book about management before you either fall asleep or pick up your novel.
An investment in time which equates to:
2 hours a week
8 hours a month
100 hours per year (Which equates to 12.5 working days per year of self development.)
And that’s assuming an investment in doing this for just 5 days a week.
Talking of investment then yes, there’s a possibility that you will have to dig into your pocket and spend some cash.
Look at our this way. It’s an investment into your future. A subscription to Audible is only a few £’s each month. Books aren’t too much to buy and if you have a Kindle many titles are even cheaper on there.
Then there’s the internet of course. An incredible source of free content. I’ve listed some of my favourites on this blog’s homepage.
Twitter is great for finding like minded individuals who share their own thoughts.
Even smart phone apps can be a great resource for learning.
The thing is it’s all out there for the taking.
If you don’t want to do it then that’s fine. But if you do then you will give yourself a competitive advantage which could boost your career.
The Development Guy 