{"id":5626,"date":"2011-04-15T01:23:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T08:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5626"},"modified":"2011-03-18T16:22:44","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T23:22:44","slug":"finding-time-to-stay-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5626","title":{"rendered":"Finding time to stay ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Staying with the theme of \u201cExperts Still Research\u201d, the question often arises, \u201cHow does one find the time to stay the expert?\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s busy lifestyle and every-changing technology makes it difficult to stay on top (never mind ahead).\u00a0 If we\u2019re too busy taking care of today\u2019s\u2019 business, how can we find time to prepare for tomorrow?\u00a0 Granted, this opens a can of worms.\u00a0 There are many avenues to this discussion.\u00a0 Today, we\u2019ll try to focus on \u201chow to stay knowledgeable and continue to be considered an expert in my field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether we own our own business or we are a valued individual contributor in a larger organization, our value is based on what we can consistently bring to the table.\u00a0 That could be knowledge, experience level, negotiation success, sales and revenue generation, project management and on-time delivery track record, IT skills, etc.<\/p>\n

In every case, \u201csharpening the saw\u201d (Steven Covey\u2019s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) is a critical step to staying ahead of the game.\u00a0 This takes time AND right back to the \u201cIf we\u2019re too busy taking care of today\u2019s\u2019 business, how can we find time to prepare for tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n

Keep It Simple, Silly<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re too busy taking care of today\u2019s\u2019 business, how can we find time to prepare for tomorrow?\u201d\u00a0 Well, just make \u2018tomorrow\u2019s preparation\u2019 today\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

By this, I mean include a to-do item \u201ctoday\u201d for this learning and growing. The most effective way is to create reasonable forcing functions and accountability partners.\u00a0 For instance, I had a habit of creating and submitting seminar abstracts to various software and project management conference. It was quite easy to create a leading-edge abstract.\u00a0 Once the abstract was accepted, I was now obligated to do my \u201csharpening of the saw\u201d.\u00a0 It was a devised forcing function.\u00a0 It was no longer \u201cwhen I have time to get to it\u201d.\u00a0 There is now a deadline to it.<\/p>\n

If you wanted to change your career but don\u2019t have any \u201con the job experience\u201d in that area, volunteer.\u00a0 For instance, if you wanted to learn more about web-design or setting up websites, volunteer your services to a non-profit organization.\u00a0 Or you have no construction experience and that is your desire, help at Habitat for Humanity.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re developer and on the maintenance of a software product.\u00a0 You want to get on the new and upcoming software product.\u00a0 Volunteer to be the Beta tester; volunteer to review (or write) the test scenarios and user documentation, get on the usability studies and focus groups, facility a focus group on the product, etc.\u00a0 You get the idea.<\/p>\n

How do I get my boss to see it this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is all nice, but how do I get my boss to see it the same way? \u00a0You make him\/her a partner in your plans and a main character in your story.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Include this in your Performance Business Plans and Individual Career Development plans.<\/li>\n
  2. Setup regular meetings with your manager to review your progress on these goals<\/li>\n
  3. Ask your manager advise on mentors and experts in the areas that you are interested in<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    You have total control over your career and your life.\u00a0 Some very simple things you can do right now:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Speak at User Conferences or Seminars on a topic that you want to learn more about<\/li>\n
    • Commit to writing and submitting a blog or article once a month.<\/li>\n
    • Schedule a Lunch\u2019n Learn discussion group on a topic that you want to learn more about.<\/li>\n
    • Schedule a Lessons Learned meeting on a product or service that you want to learn about.<\/li>\n
    • Volunteer to be a Beta Tester for a new product that you want to learn more about.<\/li>\n
    • Offer to write or review the user documentation for a new product that you want to learn more about.<\/li>\n
    • Schedule training session for clients on up-and-coming technology<\/li>\n
    • Start-up a meet-up or chat group on your new learning topic<\/li>\n
    • Check into Second Life virtual technology for virtual meetings and conference on your topic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Today\u2019s busy lifestyle and every-changing technology makes it difficult to stay on top (never mind ahead). If we\u2019re too busy taking care of today\u2019s\u2019 business, how can we find time to prepare for tomorrow? Granted, this opens a can of worms. There are many avenues to this discussion. Today, we\u2019ll try to focus on \u201chow to stay knowledgeable and continue to be considered an expert in my field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1508,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,1,853,854,855,847],"tags":[195,39,64,1370,17],"class_list":["post-5626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goals","category-priorities-2","category-miscellaneous","category-pmbok-process-initiating","category-pmbok-process-planning","category-pmbok-process-executing","category-self-leadership","tag-accountability","tag-best-practices","tag-communication","tag-leadership","tag-lessons-learned"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1508"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}