The best investment you can make is in yourself

It can be easy to think that career progression and development are your employer’s responsibility. It’s about what they provide, what opportunities come up, and what budget there is to make it all happen.

However, the truth is that when it comes to our professional development we all need to take responsibility for ourselves.

That can mean investing in courses or training that will be beneficial to your career aspirations. It can also mean spending time networking or taking advantage of opportunities when they arise.

Through the Leaders with Ambition podcast, I've had the pleasure of speaking with lots of highly successful professionals who have reached the highest ranks of career success.

One key takeaway from those conversations is this: if you're serious about your career and achieving your goals, the answer is simple - you need to invest in yourself.

The importance of professional development

Whether it’s from an employer’s or an employee’s perspective, professional development is one of the most effective ways to improve productivity, boost engagement levels and prepare yourself for whatever comes your way.

Employers looking to improve their retention rates should first look at their professional development schemes. Almost nine in 10 millennials rank professional development as very important to them and 76% of Gen Z’s think that learning is the keyto a successful career.

The differentiator for the impact professional development has on an individual’s career is that person’s commitment to it. We’ve all spent time on tick-box courses mandated by HR in the name of professional development. That’s not true development.

The most impactful professional development comes when you’re personally motivated to better yourself, you seek out people to learn from, experiences to develop your skills and you’re all in.

How to invest in yourself

Investing in yourself isn’t about spending money on endless courses and certifications. While they’re important, they’re only part of a holistic development plan.

It’s about creating a growth mindset in the way you conduct yourself, the way you spend your time and the decisions you make when it comes to your career.

Career progression doesn’t happen by accident and it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s about putting the work in over a period of time and those small actions being recognised. That might be an internal promotion or it might be moving to a new role, but time is finite, there are so many hours in the day so it’s important to use them wisely.

That’s why when it comes to investing in yourself it’s important to spend time and energy on the actions which will benefit you the most. Here are some of the more impactful ways you can invest in yourself, and your career.

Be intentional and proactive

The people that progress are intentional and proactive. They don’t sit around lamenting the lack of opportunities their firm is offering them. Yes, professional development should be part of your plan at your firm, but your career progression is down to you.

Think about what books you read, what podcasts you listen to (I highly recommend Leaders with Ambition, of course!), who you talk to.

Find an executive coach or mentor off your own back and work with them to help hone your skills (William Washington III, Global CFO at Baker Mckenzie shared that hiring an executive coach at a pivotal moment in his career was a game-changer that propelled him forward.)

Seek out opportunities to learn at every juncture.

The majority of our job capability comes from experience rather than training, so stop assuming that professional development must mean another training course. Take charge and become an active participant in your development journey.

Surround yourself with people you want to learn from

There’s a quote from Jim Roth (a businessman, social entrepreneur and author. He is the co-founder of LeapFrog Investments, a social finance and impact investment firm that manages investments of more than $1 billion.)

“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.

Look at the people you’re engaging with, particularly at work. Find people in your firm who inspire you, or who you know you could learn from and ask them for a coffee.

Build that network and peer-to-peer learning.

Are there any networking or industry-specific groups that you could join and attend in a more informal capacity? Not everything about your development has to be structured.

Informal industry meet-ups can be a great place to meet others in your role, discuss developments and challenges and build your wider network. Invest your time in meeting and learning from new people, you’ll benefit in more ways than you expect.

Engage in mentoring

Mentoring is one of the most powerful development tools. In the traditional model, you work with someone more senior than you and talk through situations you might be facing and how you can overcome them. Discussing real-life situations helps open your eyes to different approaches while learning directly from someone else’s experience.

It’s not only this model of mentoring that is helpful for your development. Reverse mentoring where you might buddy up with someone more senior for them to learn from your experience can also be a rewarding experience. Not only are you widening your network and building strong relationships, but you’re able to flag barriers or challenges you might be facing that senior management is unaware of.

Be yourself

Authenticity is becoming an increasingly important and sought-after soft skill, but it’s one that’s difficult to master. The best time to build that skill is from now.

Showing up as your true self at work, showing interest in others while sharing about yourself helps to build rapport with your peers and when you take on a managerial role, will help inspire others to do their best for you.

The difficulty is that you can’t teach soft skills through training courses. They’re very much skills learned on the job, making them ideal self-investment opportunities.

Progressing through the ranks isn’t simply about who is best for the job. Yes, qualifications and experience are important but the more promotions you receive the more likely it is that your time will be taken up with management rather than technical work.

In those instances, the people who can demonstrate influence, likeability, strong communication skills, authenticity along with their relevant experience are the ones who will progress.

Take chances that come your way

Investing in yourself means you need to believe in yourself. Without that innate belief that you can build your skills, that you are worthy of that promotion or that you can do it, any investment you make, whether it’s time or financial, will go to waste.

After you’ve decided to invest in your development, it’s time to say yes. Take on whatever opportunities come your way, seek out new experiences, ask for new projects, take the chances that come your way. If there aren’t then it’s time to speak out and find them.

To develop in your career you need to invest in yourself. That doesn’t mean sitting back and ticking off the mandatory HR training, it means being assertive, being proactive and being intentional about your time and your career.

You don’t have to spend money to invest in yourself. It’s a state of mind. It’s a decision that you’re capable and you’re determined to succeed in your career and you’re willing to put the work in to stand out from everyone else​