Reflection on My Plans for Future: Opinion Essay
My future depends on the world based on knowledge and is changing rapidly. My collective understanding of myself and my industry is the key to my future. As time goes by, it becomes even more apparent that knowledge engenders knowledge, and new skills drive careers forward. My skills, knowledge, and capabilities either help me advance my career or hamper my life progress.
Learn-ability makes me indispensable. Change is constant in the workplace today and I need to keep learning to keep up with that. Learning drives tailoring. It’s said easier than done. There’s not always time for a career-boosting class between deadlines, meetings, family life and everything else in between but I know I can change that. If I am ready to take charge of my career. Wherever I’m on the career ladder, it’s important to continue learning and new skills development. The ability to acquire and apply better forms of knowledge when necessary makes me great at what I do. Having to adapt helps me to become more available. A source of fear and stress shouldn’t be this as I can make time to get better and improve myself.
It becomes another part of my career journey when I embrace lifelong learning. A learning mindset makes it less likely that when a project changes, my employer changes the strategy for growth or when a job function transforms, I will be thrown off. While others are struggling to find out where to go from here, even in the face of radical change at work I can maintain momentum and profitability.
Personal career development is fulfilling, and a continuous learning process will both stimulate and empower me as I acquire the relevant knowledge, values, skills, and understanding that I will need throughout my life and move freely between tasks, jobs, regions, and countries. It is the one skill that can bring all my other abilities to the next level. My ability to learn and adapt in any work environment, no matter what else changes in my unpredictable world, will be there for me at every stage of my career.
My time here is finite. Only once will I get this life and then it’s all gone forever. So choices about how I am spending or investing my time come with the real cost of opportunity. Think of the skills and knowledge that I need to stay up to date now and prepare for the future. I don’t need to learn every skill at once, but I owe it to myself that I can be the best.
Any skill that I choose to learn should fit into the larger picture of my life and work — my career path to be an effective learner. Learning can help me meet immediate needs or those of the future. If, in the next three or six months, I intend to improve my skills, I can get feedback from my employer about my skills that may need to be upgraded. Other clues such as tasks that I tend to avoid or struggle with due to the knowledge or skills that I don’t have can help me decide what to focus on now or in the future. Also, I can focus on the big picture, define my career path, and choose the skills I need to reach my ultimate career objective. This can help me to develop new skills that will be useful beyond my position today. If I want to undertake a specific role in the management, find resources to help me develop the skills that I need to prepare for the future. I can even find a mentor and talk about my goals for learning and what to focus on to advance my career.
Whether I want to change jobs, apply for a promotion or start a new career, upgrading my skills will change everything. Learning is an investment that usually pays out in increased earnings for itself. No matter what level of education I have I need to keep learning if I want to succeed. In the changing world of work, learning is for life more than ever if I want to remain relevant, indispensable and survive. Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today!
