When I was planning my commitments this year I realised I had booked myself in for 20 days of training and development.
I mentioned this to a friend and his reply was telling. “Why would you do that? All that time out of the office? You’re already super busy as it is.”
My thoughts on this are simple. If you are not growing and challenging yourself you’re going backwards. The only way you can coast is down.
On Monday I attended a course of using LinkedIn effectively to generate more business ran by a lovely lady called Sam Flynn.
The course took place in Birmingham, meaning a 4.30am start. Leaving the house with the temperature nigh above freezing, I kept in mind the benefits that the training would have not just for me and the business, but for our customers as well.
Sometimes going on these training courses can feel like a waste of time. My aim is to learn just one major new thing that will improve me and therefore justify it as time and money well spent.
For those of you are unaware of LinkedIn it’s kind of like Facebook but for business professionals. There are no posts of cats skateboarding or drunken birthday party photos.
There are plenty of useful articles and interesting people to connect with, including suggestions from LinkedIn. I’ve used if for a few years now and amassed more than 1,500 connections.
It wasn’t until Monday’s training course that I understood how to benefit from those connections. For example if I now need an accountant who specialises in a certain area of finance based near Ruislip I now know how to locate that person.
I also heard how a few tweaks to my profile can offer my experience in marketing, publishing and advertising to a much larger audience.
These training days and courses are all part of getting better.
When Jose Mourinho was in between his Chelsea and Inter Milan jobs in 2007/2008, he spent a lot of his ‘spare time’ studying new fitness and management techniques.
Jose Mourinho is a fan of lifelong learning.
It would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to rest on his laurels, with millions in the bank and take a long, well-earned holiday.
Instead, he committed to continued learning and improvement which, based on his team’s performances this season, it’s evident that he has succeeded in.
So if linking up with learning is good enough for Jose it’s good enough for me.
Thanks for reading,
Nik
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