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Future of work: Why upskilling is important for career success


How to upskill your career
Why upskilling is important for career success

Have you ever been faced with a challenge you could never overcome? Either it was a big or small challenge. While many things might be responsible for your inability to overcome that challenge, an important variable remains your mindset.

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If you are faced with a challenge that you honestly do not believe you can overcome, you will find it hard to overcome it if at all you ever manage to overcome it. The force at play here is the mindset.

As soon as you decide that it is impossible to overcome that challenge, it becomes progressively harder to overcome, and to overcome that challenge, that mindset has to change.

Now, if your career depends on that challenge that you think you are incapable of overcoming, it might mean that your career will be stalled until changes are made.

So, if you do not believe that you can close that deal, you might be unable to close it even if you had the resources to do it.

Having a positive and winning mindset is half the job, so whenever you are faced with an obstacle, remember to face it with a winning mindset. You will be surprised how easy it is to overcome certain obstacles that would seem otherwise impossible.

Furthermore, if you realize that you think about successful people as lucky and talented people as having inborn attributes, you might find out that you have a fixed mindset which is unhealthy for growth. ​


HOW THE GROWTH MINDSET INFLUENCES PRODUCTIVITY

Carol Dweck, professor of Psychology at Stanford University, posits two ways of seeing the world: fixed and growth mindsets. The major difference is that a fixed mindset is technically inflexible and can sometimes be limiting.

The professor believes that people with a fixed mindset refuse to understand that talents and intelligence can be developed and often see these things as inborn. In contrast, those with the growth mindset believe everything can be learned and developed.

So, while a person with a fixed mindset will see an artist as talented and see painting as something inborn, a person with a growth mindset will see an artist as innovative and find a way of learning the art himself.

These two different mindsets play a very vital role in productivity. A person with a growth mindset will believe he can find a way to get more done in the eight work hours, while a person with a fixed mindset will believe that there is a limit to what you can do during the eight work hours and therefore refuse to live up to their abilities.

Also, a person with a growth mindset will work towards earning money while they sleep to ensure that they are still winning even in sleep, while a person with a fixed mindset will try to work more hours to cover up for hours spent lazing around. ​


WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR OPTIMAL GROWTH IN TODAY'S WORKPLACE?

Every day, we are faced with challenges that we must overcome for us to progress. However, these challenges cannot be confronted or even overcome without the following:

  1. Avoid motivation killers: In every work setting, there may be a "motivation killer" or, in other words, something (or someone) who makes it difficult for people to focus on their work and get it done. In this scenario, a good manager must look out for the well-being of most of the staff and therefore get rid of such items. ​

  2. Have a growth mindset: You must do your best to make changes that would enable you to have a growth mindset. With a growth mindset, you will understand that mountains look like molehills from the sky. And as such, when something is looking too hard, you have to change your perspective, and you would see those problems as something to be used as a steppingstone.

  3. Make judicious use of technology at your disposal: While technology does have its downsides, it remains an essential factor in how easy your work can be. Think about applications that help you schedule your activities, automate your task, and help get started on a solid foot daily. If you make good use of technology, your work will be much easier.


HOW CAN YOU UPSKILL AT YOUR WORKPLACE, AND HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?

Upskilling can be appraised from two different perspectives: as an individual and as a company. As an individual, upskilling refers to your ability to seek to learn new skills required to operate within your field. As a company, upskilling refers to training existing employees to perform new roles within the organization. From a general perspective, however, upskilling is growth. Hence, the place of mindset.

It would help if you believed that you are capable of learning something new and making judicious use of that new knowledge. More so, you must be willing to learn through multiple pathways. The world is changing fast, and as a result, there are plenty of ways to upskill other than the good old seminars and lectures.

Today, you can upskill from the comfort of your home. You can sample courses online from the tested sites and experts. You are no longer limited to seminars and lectures and can now upskill at your convenience.

Upskilling is best regarded as a process. Creating a timeline that works for you or your company is best. The goal is to learn while you work and apply everything you have learned in real-time, which is one of the best ways to grow within an organization. ​


FINAL THOUGHTS

As the demand in the workplace continues to shift post the lockdown period, companies are making upskilling, and reskilling programs top priority on their list. They are opting for an agile workforce that is flexible enough to take on new roles and, at the time, efficient enough to deliver.

You have to skill up!

As the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) reports, more than one billion workers worldwide will have to be reskilled by 2030. If you intend to lead a successful career, you have limited options in today's skill-driven society.

Have you ever heard of Brave Achievers GoCreate USA Bootcamp? It is a reskilling Bootcamp where you can learn in-demand skills in UX/UI Design and Project Management.


There, you get to learn from leading experts in design and management, work on live projects from partners, and access the growing community of professionals. Learn more today.

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