The world is changing at breakneck speed, old skills are being packed in vacuum bags and stored in attics, and the need to keep up with change is growing every day if we are to remain competitive in any way. Otherwise, we find ourselves waving in vain for the train that roared in front of our noses and left us proud of our diploma and with the memory of the good old days when everything was done more acceptably, slower, and more comfortable.
According to science fiction writer Arthur Clarke, the concept that the learning process is limited to the first twenty years of life must change radically because half of what we learn in our twenties cannot be applied when we are in our forties, while half of the things we learn about we met when we were in our forties it didn’t even exist while we were in our twenties. Maybe once such a rapid development of events and change of necessary knowledge were characteristic of the world of science fiction that Arthur Clarke created, it is also our reality that it is better to come to terms as soon as possible. Otherwise, that fast train that represents the metaphor of the world movement may not only leave us waving with longing, but it will also run over us at full speed.
For example, many of the current occupations did not even exist, when recently graduated generations of students enrolled in college (SEO experts, Adwords specialists, Community managers, Bloggers, and so on). The students who enrolled in the faculty this year, can’t even guess what their profession will turn into because over the next 4-5 years, new, more sophisticated jobs will surely open, which even futurists cannot predict today.
The 5 Tips for Improving Personal and Professional Skills are:
1. Improve communication
Communication skills are necessary if you are the PR of a company or work in the sales sector. Whatever your position, modern times, and modern ways of doing business mean that every employee knows a minimum of basic principles of business and interpersonal communication
. While interpersonal communication is a set of that knowledge necessary to function qualitatively in a group, business literacy implies rules that can be learned and increasingly desirable for employees.
There have been numerous research papers published that say that Mastering business and emotional communication means that an individual can communicate independently with his colleagues in the form required by that communication and includes addressing, choosing the tone, and mastering the spelling and having adequate vocabulary. Regardless of the position, one occupies the company, tolerance for literacy, and education is lower than in previous years. Firms that care about themselves care that each employee represents them in the right way.
Close to the knowledge of the mother tongue and the rules of communication is the knowledge of a foreign language, primarily English, since mastering basic English communication is taken for granted on a global level. Under no circumstances should you turn into a cruel specialist. For that not to happen, the injection of real art through whatever form is obligatory. Going to the theatre, cinema, exhibitions, and reading unprofessional literature in your mother tongue and a foreign language will improve your communication. When the consumption of art becomes spontaneous, you have mastered this item. Let’s go to the next one.
2. Digital in width
Although our blog visitors are geeks who are eagerly waiting for the latest innovations from the IT world, especially Google, a few sentences for those who have satiety or fear of these innovations need to be informed about both the hardware and the software. Follow what’s new in Intel, Oracle, IBM, of course, Google, and Microsoft. We’ve already written about quantum computers being pushed by Google to exponentially speed up searches, as well as a Skype compiler that will allow real-time communication between people of different speaking areas.
But that is not enough. In this section, the idea is to note that you are not tied to a brand, device, technology, or platform.
If you use a mobile phone on Android, you need to know the basics and trends around the iPhone, which is new in HTML five and CSS fours. Why NoSQL databases have become interesting, the latest edition of Linux, the trends among Silicon Valley giants, etc. The reason is simple, the platforms intertwine, and thousands of professionals are employed around each of them, earning money either from product development or in business with it. Just one sentence at the right time can open a new door for you.
The time of multidisciplinary has long been on the scene. There is no big IT project that does not intertwine several platforms and dozens of technologies. The more knowledge, the greater the hierarchy.
3. Online self-education — to the last detail in the profession and with the profession
There are skills and knowledge expected of you as workers and skills and knowledge that are expected of you as professionals. These two fields sometimes intertwine, but each of them needs to be worked on separately.
Opposite the expansion of the field of interest and Renaissance education is a narrow specialization, finding our niche to excel. One does not exclude the other. Take every opportunity to improve your professional skills, whether it’s by reading books, attending seminars and conferences, following the blogs of world-renowned authorities in your field, or personal creative engagement. This process is increasingly moving to the internet, so it is otherwise called online self-education.
Define the authors in your field. Do you know what they have in common in whatever niche they are in? Everyone is on Twitter. Follow them. Subscribe to their mailing lists. Do not hesitate to communicate with them, but you must have tactics. Study what is latest in their work and stick the question in the epicentre. If you sincerely admire them, it is not out of place to flatter them sometimes, but of course, it is argued according to the deserved parameter. You will enjoy communication, the hormone of happiness will be secreted, and if you get a retweet, then part of your authority will spill over to you in public. It can’t get any better!
4. Respect others and yourself
“Respect others and yourself”, this rule is not one that refers only to the sphere of business life, but it certainly has an impact in that field as well. A man who lives at any time is expected to inherit those civilization achievements and cultural principles that characterize his time. This implies that he does not perceive culture as a short intermezzo between world news and sports in the evening news, but as his nature and civilizational need.
First of all, it is necessary to respect each person individually, approach people and phenomena without prejudices, be correct and kind, respect other people’s opinions, and the skill of non-conflicting conflict of opinion. Each of these virtues of a cultured person will have a more than positive impact on your career. Emotional intelligence is a trait by which the masters of their craft differ from the grandmasters.
5. Learn how to learn
For the end, or maybe it is better to say for a start, it would be ideal for improving how you master new skills, i.e. to master the skill of learning. From an early age, they teach us various things, constantly putting us in a situation to learn something, even though no one has ever shown us the right way to do it. However, there are many ways you can improve your ability to learn effectively, and there is probably a no better investment and more difficult task when it comes to personal progress. You can do this individually, by reading books or attending seminars where a team of experts will monitor your progress and tailor theoretical knowledge to each individual according to their needs.