Dr. Travis Bradberry makes an important argument in his article “Nine skills you should learn that pay off forever“:
“We should never stop learning. The moment we think that we are who we are is the moment we give away our unrealized potential.”
In essence, don’t leave any personal development gains on the table.
We often make the mistake of resting on our laurels and falling victim to the vices of complacency – we stop trying, stop innovating, and most importantly, we stop working on improving ourselves. This is usually because we believe we’re at the point in our career where we simply “know it all.” Not only is this impractical and untrue, it also reduces our performance and makes us vulnerable in an increasingly volatile and changing landscape. The days of burying our heads in the sand and sticking to “the old way of doing things” are gone. Principles such as design thinking, minimum viable products, and disruptive innovation make this type of behavior unacceptable for any business that wants to get ahead.
“Still,” Bradberry points out, “your time is finite, and you should dedicate yourself to learning skills that will yield the greatest benefit.”