By: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
(In the past article, we knew about the benefits of inculcating good financial habits. Today, we will know about importance of learning new skills so as to speedily achieve our goals.)
Learn new skills
Suppose, the very next moment, you get the magical lamp of Aladin granting you one wish to get a new skill of your choice or improvise any present skill, what skill you will love to get or improvise? Think, developing which skill can bring positive changes in your life and which will help you most towards achieving your goals. Focus upon inculcating this skill, as this will speedily take you towards your goals.
In my workshops for students, I always tell them to improve their fast reading skills, fast typing skills, mind mapping skills, communication skills, time management skills and to learn computer commands to save time. These skills are useful not only for students but these are useful for all, as these days, almost everybody has to read a lot of material, type lot of things on computer and take notes of important things. Learn specialised skills related to your career/ profession
Be specialist in your field. Continuously upgrade skills in your field and upgrade knowledge. Identify the skills related to your career or profession, which need to be upgraded continuously. Suppose you are an Architect cum Interior Decorator. It is obvious that you must have undergone the professional course for these two competencies, but the world is changing fast. The knowledge is spreading globally and you have to keep pace with the fast upgrading knowledge in your field and try to adapt these to your profession.
For example, if you are an architect, your first job is to create a map for the building. Only after a map is created, the building can be erected and interior can be planned. I would suggest that you study the maps of the countries having high density of population like Japan, where maps are designed to utilise even inches of the available space. If you study Japanese designs, it would be helpful for you to apply the ideas in India in a much better manner, as you will be able to plan utilisation of whole of space in a better manner than other architects, who are not ready to come out of their comfort zone for upgrading their skills and are still relying upon old methods.
The same theory applies to every field. You should always be willing to upgrade your knowledge and skills in your area of work to perform something different from others. As renowned motivational speaker, Shiv Khera puts it, “Winners do not do different things, they do the things differently.”
I know an orthopaedic surgeon, who specialises in knee transplants. In the city, many other surgeons are also doing it, but despite his over-busy schedules, this gentleman always remain updated, as to what are the latest developments in knee transplants and what types of artificial knees are available in the market, anywhere in the world. There is no surprise that his success ratio is much higher than others. The speed of recovery after operation is also faster, as he has developed a team of physiotherapists, who specialise in the field of physiotherapy after knee operation surgery, which can be compared as a good after-sales service. There is no wonder that this extra professionalism has fetched him more & more patients.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if the motive of this surgeon is doing this work for his passion of adding value to the society by giving virtually a new life to the elder patients, he is living his passion by way of getting more & more opportunities in the form of never ending queue of patients; and if his prime motive is to earn money, this is also served due to this never ending queue of patients.
Personally, my experience is that successful people are driven by values. They don’t follow the money. Money follows them as I always say, money is the by-product of good work, apart from success.
(In the next article, we will discuss about how Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar showed the way about the importance of adding spice of attitude to the skills to become successful in life. I believe that you are enjoying the journey towards the future of your dreams with me. If yes, please stay tuned every Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. Happy G.O.P.T.A.)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Creator & copyright holder of the concept G.O.P.T.A.© is an Author, Certified NLP Lifestyle Master Practitioner, Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker and recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Excellence (Management) by prestigious Young Scientist University, California, USA. He is Founder of ‘Read, Learn & Earn Movement’ and is popularly known among his fans & followers across the globe as ‘Time and Goal Guru’.
