How to progress in our professional life? This is the question that many people ask themselves who notice a certain stagnation in the workplace, whether due to the lack of prospects for economic improvements or the frustration of finding themselves at a dead end when it comes to continuing to develop their own potential.
Here we will see a summary of the main areas of professional development that is, the fronts that we must address to advance in the context of work.
Development of professional skills: areas of learning and preparation
In every professional context there are always areas through which we can continue learning to make significant progress. Knowing them helps to invest our efforts, time and resources well when we consider making our career take a significant step forward. They are the following.
1. Enhancement of personal productivity
Knowing how to promote habits and ways of working that enhance our personal productivity is key.
Here are included very varied psychological resources, such as mnemonic rules, study techniques, the establishment of sequences of goals and sub-goals the creation of appropriate work spaces, anticipating the possible problems that the environment may pose, etc.
2. Planning and time management
In many cases, training our ability to detect bad habits that waste our time and apply new ways of approaching our tasks. can lead us to double our performance in a matter of a few weeks intelligently using the resources we have and taking advantage of our free and rest time in a healthier way (which in turn results in greater productivity).
Here we can highlight the use of action triggers, psychological tools that help us work in a disciplined manner as planned in our plans so as not to give in to distractions, for example. These are resources with which psychologists work regularly when helping our patients and clients.
Professional development It always involves setting goals that have never been achieved before and that is why in this process it is essential to develop stress and anxiety management skills.
The way in which we “relieve” these tensions can cause us to self-sabotage, or to take advantage of this type of phenomena to our advantage. Ultimately, if they exist it is because if we do it well, they help us react in time to risks and opportunities.
4. Communication, persuasion and influence techniques
Communication techniques are what It allows us to connect with others and demonstrate that what happens in our heads has real implications in the world Taking into account that the professional context in a world of interconnected gears in which what happens in one place can significantly affect what happens in another that is far away, it is important to know how to skillfully transport the most relevant information.
Associated with the above, the influence is the facet of communication that appeals to feelings and expresses vectors of action : what we transmit are not only descriptions, but also ideas capable of mobilizing others. This is one of the most important elements of professional development in those professions associated with dealing with clients, on the one hand, and in the development of projects as entrepreneurs.
Thus, it is not just about informing: it is also about knowing how to translate our ideas into emotions and into an aesthetic that conveys a lot in a few seconds. Ultimately, in the context of work, time is also a resource that must be managed, and being aware that we are dealing with people and not machines is essential.
Gone are the days when it was believed that economic incentives were the only way to mobilize people. Mastering leadership styles is essential precisely for this reason, because leaders are not leaders because of the place they occupy in the organization chart or because of their ability to pay others a salary.
The figure of the leader is what can make the difference between a team of apparently incompetent people who do not reach their production goals, and a team of professionals who have finally found the workflow that allows them to “fit” together. This includes much more than knowing how to communicate well: It has to do with knowing how to diagnose problems in the way of working, wasted talent, risks and opportunities, etc
6. Managing a job change
The ability to adapt to new jobs is also part of professional development. A person who can only function in a very specific professional role in which he has been working for a long time may come to believe that he has all his needs covered in the workplace, but the truth is that this is just an illusion.
Even if you never need to adjust to new areas of professional performance, Being aware that there is a clear dependence on what you do will affect the way you experience your work and the decisions it adopts in this area.
This is a limitation that must be learned to overcome, and this is achieved by maintaining a certain flexibility active, even in tasks that have nothing to do with the current job.
In the same way, at the moment in which the job change finally ends up taking place, it is important to have the psychological skills that allow us to put in order the uncertainties that confront us in situations like this, and guide our actions to achieve specific goals while maintaining a realistic vision of what we can and cannot do in our current situation. This entails knowing how to organize, on the one hand, and learning to deal with the cognitive biases that give us a vision that is not adjusted to reality about what our abilities are.
Having psychological assistance from experts in behavioral sciences and emotion management is very effective in making a qualitative leap in the way you work and approach projects.
If you are interested in developing habits that allow you to take your professional development forward, contact us. In UPAD Psychology and Coaching We have been helping for years to satisfy needs such as improving performance, managing work stress and emotions linked to the work environment, establishing a work or training discipline, organizing time and the objectives to be achieved, etc. .
For this reason, we work with high-performance athletes, competitive examination students, artists, influencers, entrepreneurs, and other profiles whose daily life involves facing challenges and striving to achieve medium and long-term goals.
You can find more information about us, and our contact details, on this page.
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