Ron's Corner: Fuel Your Future with Continuous Learning
EXP Board Member and EXP Alumni and Young Adult Committee Chair Ron Roberts, Jr., is a self-labeled “Career & College Planning Partner.” Ron draws on over 16 years as a college career advisor, corporate recruiter, and youth non-profit consultant. Check out his website, Career Intelligence for Young Leaders, and connect with him on LinkedIn.
As you read earlier, at the end of this month, EXP will host Fuel Your Future, a free 3-day virtual leadership and professional skills boot camp for EXP alumni and young adults. I am really hoping that you can carve out some time to attend at least some of the boot camp activities. In the interim, I am taking the liberty to leverage an important point for this article titled: “Fuel Your Future with Continuous Learning.”
It is evident that there is power in learning. Learning opens our minds to possibilities and opens doors to opportunity. However, we can sometimes get stagnant in our learning. We might get comfortable with the knowledge we have already attained, or get so caught up in life stuff that we no longer seem to have time to evolve in our learning.
Too many times, I have fallen into the trap of coasting on what I already know. At certain times, this has come back to really bite me when it was quite apparent to me (and others), that I should have known more. These moments have been humbling and a powerful reminder of how important it is to continue learning.
Continuous learning will keep your mind sharp, increase your competence, build your confidence and elevate your value to others.
I would now like to apply the principle of continuous learning to your career journey. We will call this building your career intelligence—increasing your knowledge of your career value, potential career paths, and possible opportunities with employers. Building your career intelligence will make you a more competitive candidate for internships and jobs, a more indispensable employee, and a more confident contributor. There are several ways that you can continue to build your career intelligence. For example; conduct informational interviews, ask for career and company discovery conversations with industry professionals, and identify one or more mentors who can support your career development.
I am including links below to a couple of resources that can help with these:
My parting challenge to you, is to make it an absolute priority to keep learning, especially as you move along your career journey. Your continuous learning about what is within you and what is outside of you will give you more than sufficient fuel to create a promising future for yourself.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss