Not all assets are valuable, you can own a building that has not been modified and has depreciated in value. If you were to sell it, you will not make a profitable gain.
However, if you invest in its infrastructure and strategically market it for consumer use, you would have broken even and received a return on your investment.
Your career is exactly the same; the effort you put in investing yourself, the more opportunities you would be exposed to.
Investing in yourself is not purely academic; Investing in yourself also means investing your time in activities that add value to your personal and professional growth.
Swap Netflix and chill for mingling at a networking event. Swap reality TV for listening to business-led podcasts. It’s the little drops in the ocean that prepares us for career advancement and achievement.
What do you classify as a career achievement? Most people look at it as something tangible you’ve done within an organization. While you are right, there is also a deeper meaning to true career achievement.
Career Achievement is an A.C.I.D.I.C process that derives from the mind. Firstly, you need to Aspire; you need to visualize and embrace your professional calling then decide what, or where you want to be. To think it is to believe it. You need to trust in your natural abilities to drive this process to successful completion.
Secondly, you need to Conceptualise; design the strategy that will get you there, and plan for potential contingencies should in case new trends develop in the market that requires you to tweak your plans to remain relevant. Planning is key, it helps to hold us accountable and keep track of our progress.
Read also: Make an investment plan as you grow in your career – FBNQuest
Thirdly, is to Implement; put your strategy into actionable plans, and evaluate the outcome of each step you take. This is probably the most trying time because you will face obstacles that may slow you down, the economic trends might require you to do a little tweaking to stay relevant, whatever the case may be, the key is to remain consistent.
Every brand or prolific personality you know today got to where they are because they were dedicated to the cause. So if they can do it, why can’t you?
The next step would be to Demonstrate – showcase your newly acquired skills in your current working environment, social media platforms, and with your external peers. You’ve worked hard, so you have every right to brag about your newly acquired skill set. This does not only show professional growth, it also helps you to redefine your expertise as a subject matter expert, and as a result, increase your market value.
Then Incorporate – Update your LinkedIn Profile, or pitch deck to include your newly acquired expertise. Do not just add it as an additional skill; rework your portfolio to describe the skill in detail and the synergy it creates with your core specialism. This may lead to a re-brand of your expertise as a whole and add a level of versatility that is sought-after by forward-thinking organisations.
Finally, celebrate your wins regardless of the size! We tend to put so much pressure on ourselves and use other people’s successes to quantify our own. While it’s great to aspire to reach a certain level of success, every step made towards that actualisation should be celebrated.
You are not in competition with nobody but the person you were yesterday and every path to success cannot be duplicated – Trust in the process. Your expertise, style of execution, and personal attributes are what differentiate your uniqueness in a talent pool of professionals in the market.
Oyelade is the director at Transquisite Consulting, a UK and Nigerian registered Recruitment and Training Consultancy.
