What Are Your Professional Development Goals for 2014?
It’s a new year and time to clean the slate, you get to start over. The Invisible Mentor blog is very much about professional development. So what are your professional development goals for 2014? I plan to continue with my liberal arts education that I started in September 2014 for the next eight months – that’s how much time I have set aside. That’s more of a personal goal that will have professional benefits.
Related Post: Personal Learning Environment: Choose Your Courses and Personal Learning Environment: Keep Track of Your Courses
I have been reflecting on my life, and I realized that when I attend conferences and take courses for professional development in a classroom setting, it’s better for me financially and also personally. It was also better for me because I am an introvert, so I love my company. I cut back on the paid courses and conferences because of the cost. But in the end, you have to spend money to make money. Attending better events will push me beyond my comfort zone, and that’s a good thing for me.
So for this year, in addition to my liberal arts education, there are three things that are important to me, that will help me to develop professionally: Attend an Inc. magazine conference, take a speed reading course and a writing course.
Growco: For years I have been thinking that Growco would be an excellent conference for small business owners to attend. But I have not gone beyond the thinking stage. This year, I noticed that Inc. is having its Growco conference in Nashville – May 20 to 22 – and I have a friend working in that city, so that’s another reason for me to attend the conference because I haven’t seen her in two years. I need to make this happen, is there anyone who would be willing to attend with me?
Speed Reading Course: I have taken speed reading courses before, and I am happy to say that I am reading faster. But I do not think that I am reading as fast as I could without compromising comprehension. I attended the Iris Reading course at the end of 2010, and I purchased the Photo Reading course from Learning Strategies over a year ago. I like the ideas behind the Photo Reading course, but if I am being completely honest, you need to actually be present in a course to fully benefit – the self-study course is simply not enough. You have to see how to do certain things, not just read about it. For instance, the course is supposed assist you in reading information on the computer screen faster, but in the first phase of the process, you are supposed to take two minutes to scan the information. If you have a physical book, it is easy to do that, but I am not sure how you could do that with an e-book that’s in Kindle format. I feel as if I have to see Photo Reading in action, then the self-study course that I bought would be more helpful to me. There is a class being offered in March.
Writing Course: I have taken several writing courses already, but I have the potential to be a much better writer, and since it is my craft, I should be taking classes all the time to become better. I would like to take the Writing Dynamics course again.
Now it’s your turn, what are your professional development goals for 2014? What courses would you like to take, and which conference would you like to attend? To assist you in making a decision, ask yourself these questions:
- What courses directly related to your industry could you take to improve the way you perform your job?
- What courses unrelated to your industry could you take to improve the way you perform your job?
- What seminars or workshops could you participate in to improve the way you perform your job?
- What conferences could you attend to improve the way you perform your job?
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Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.
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