If you want to succeed in business – and in life – you’ve got to make a serious investment in yourself. Whether you’re leading a team of twenty or working solo, you need to be the leader others want to follow.   

To remain relevant, you have to take time to develop your skill set, stay up-to-date on all the trends, and keep pushing yourself to learn. You want to be knowledgeable about what’s happening in your industry and about what is going on in the world. No business operates in a vacuum, so you’ve got to have a broad base of knowledge to draw from.   

This is something we’re thinking about and doing all the time. We prioritize networking opportunities like Ellevate, this great networking platform for professional women. We read high-quality journals like the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. We sign up for webinars, listen to podcasts, and find creative outlets that may not seem connected to HR. We go deeper into interesting things we see on LinkedIn, Twitter and even Instagram.  

You have to create a habit of ongoing improvement. Make it part of your routine so that personal development becomes a reflex. That can be tough, we know. Paid client work is always a priority for us, but we find the time.  

Read articles at the beginning of your day, sign up for webinars and find the time to watch them. Set goals and achieve them. If you can’t complete a development goal every month, set a development goal for every quarter.  Plan a quarterly check-in with yourself to examine where you are in relation to your goals.  

It’s important to be relevant. To be the best version of myself, I need to take the time to grow myself. As an HR Consultant, I have to walk the walk and put myself and my development first. — Kelly

Let’s say your goal is to further your understanding of human behavior. That’s an ongoing quest for Keri. In HR, the more you know about people, the better you are at your job.  Read articles in Psychology Today, talk to people about what makes them tick. 

I commit to putting things on my calendar. If I want to get something done, I schedule an appointment on my calendar with reminder alarms to go along with the action! — Nandini

There is so much valuable information out there you can take advantage of. There are so many influencers you can learn from— Daniel Goleman, Dave Ulrich, Cal Chamber to name just a few.  

Push your thinking; grab ideas from great thinkers and integrate those ideas into your work. — Keri

If you make this investment in yourself and really focus on your own development, you’ll find that you can do your job with confidence and inspire others to strive to be and do their best.