Deliberate practice makes progress
Whether you are satisfied with your current job or not, if you are like most people, you may have the tendency to go with the flow. You are constantly busy and at some point you stop and think: “I really need to build this and that skill but when?! There is no time. I can't do this. Most of the time, you subscribe to some kind of training which makes you feel better…temporarily, maybe you have learned some new stuff but you have not embodied that skill yet.
The key to own your personal & professional development is:
having the belief that you can do anything, aka Growth Mindset (more details in one of my previous articles:https://www.mandercoaching.co.uk/blog-3-1/7-easy-steps-to-enable-your-personalcareer-development) and
constant and deliberate practice
What is Deliberate Practice?
Exploring and expanding your knowledge at the edge of what you already can as opposed to just repeating, sometimes for years, what you already know.
Dare to try new things, fail and retry again.
If you are an aspiring leader or just aspiring to build any new skill which is out of your comfort zone, you can do this if you are deliberate about it and apply an ambitious and yet realistic approach. What do I mean about that?
Let's take learning a new language, for example. It's not done in a day. You spent a fair amount of time learning grammar, how to make sentences and speaking in the classroom but in order to become really fluent, you may want to go on holiday in a country where this language is spoken or find a native to talk to. You will know that you will do mistakes and maybe you will be “shy” to speak and have difficulties to express but if you dare to keep practicing that language in an outside of school environment, if you do different things to expand that knowledge on regular basis: e.g. speak with natives, watch original movies with subtitles, read books etc, then you will be able to use that language in a whole new level.
And of course, you won't be at proficiency level in one month and you don't want to throw yourself at the danger zone (give a speech in front of natives) as this might be somewhat discouraging but should you set yourself a realistic goal: being able to have a fluent conversation about this and that topic with strangers after 3 months and take into consideration everything else in your life: your work, kids, hobbies, potential unexpected thing, I can guarantee you that you will make progress.
After a while, at the end of the timebox you have set to yourself or every month, stop and reflect:
Is the goal that I have set for myself still relevant for me?
Am I improving and learning?
Does that give me energy?
If yes, keep doing it and after the end of the time-box, set a new goal taking into consideration the lessons learnt.
If not, change the goal.
Action for today:
Choose one aspect from your personal and professional life that brings you meaning and fulfillment but is somewhat outside of your comfort zone.
What will be different in the next 3 months with regards to it compared to the present?
Is this realistic and yet ambitious?
Commit to dedicate a certain amount of time per day: e.g. 15- 30 minutes dedicated to your deliberate practice.
Wishing you a deliberate day!
