Think back to how happy you were when you graduated high school or college. I bet you were saying to yourself, “Yes! I finally made it! No more tests. No more papers to write. No more studying.” But that could be far from the truth, and I think most of us know that learning never stops and we are always being tested in different ways within the “real world.”
If you stick with the mentality that you learned everything that you need to know in school, you will be left in the dust of your peers and co-workers. Personal and professional development never ends, and that’s why there is a whole market dedicated to self-help and professional development. Walk into a Barnes & Noble or surf Audible and you’ll find hundreds, even thousands of books dedicated to the subject. But why is it so important to continue learning and developing?
- If you don’t use it you lose it.
- We live in an ever-changing world, and standards change within industries.
- Stay relevant on current issues.
- Enhance existing skills, develop new ones, and fill knowledge gaps.
- Helps you understand the theory behind the practical application.
- Employers expect you to be self-motivated and take professional development seriously.
I get it, we all live busy lives and not all of us have time to sit down and read a book, but technology has made it so much easier to get the information that we need to improve ourselves. Take Audible for example. Audio books are an excellent way to learn with our increasingly on-the-go lifestyles. More and more are discovering the benefits of personal and professional development because it helps them find an edge within their market as a leader or as an employee.