Feel like you’re in a career rut? It’s not uncommon. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you should look for a new job. There’s a lot you can do to boost career growth at your desk right now.
1. Seek Out Opportunities to Learn
It’s never too late to learn something new, and you might find that you have access to more learning opportunities than you think. Check with your manager or HR department to find out about employee learning and development programs available at work. This could include mentorship programs, onsite or online training to boost managerial and technical skills, or even discounts and reimbursements for school tuition or other classes and conferences outside of work.
Learning a new skill might teach you a whole new approach to how you work, changing your perspective and creating more room for your career to grow.
Do You Need a Career Mentor? These tips can help you find the right person to guide your professional development.
2. Seek Out Opportunities to Share
A great way to stand out as a leader is to share your work and insights with others, and help people learn something new. Look for opportunities to share your knowledge publicly — you’ll likely boost your presentation skills and widen your network of peers as a result.
Try suggesting a “Lunch and Learn” presentation at work, and invite colleagues from other teams to attend and hear about what you’re working on. You could also search for industry events and panels outside of work where you can offer expertise. When you highlight the importance of your work to others in new and creative ways, you’ll reinforce the value of your work to yourself, which can be motivating and exciting.
3. Improve Your Performance with Mindfulness
Are you feeling focused at work or distracted? Are you satisfied with your productivity and ability to come up with creative ideas and solutions? In our increasingly digital world, we’re constantly bombarded with emails, social media and news updates, and often, it seems like we value multitasking more than monotasking. The truth is, all of these distractions can actually increase our stress levels and hurt our work performance overall.
“Mindful working means applying focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you enter the office. Focus on the task at hand and recognize and release internal and external distractions as they arise. In this way, mindfulness helps increase effectiveness, decrease mistakes, and even enhance creativity,” explain Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter in Harvard Business Review.
Adopting a meditation practice and regular breathing exercises can go a long way in improving your focus and boosting your energy in the workplace.
Interested in meditation? Start a New Mindful Meditation Regimen in Under a Month with these tips.
4. Focus on Key Competencies
Developing your technical skills is always important, but are you also working to improve your personal skills? Nurturing more intangible qualities, like a strong work ethic, good communication, flexibility and positivity are soft skills that can help you and your colleagues succeed together.
When it comes to communication, people tend to give back what they receive, so going the extra mile personally can help build a supportive team culture.
Are you setting yourself up for success in the workplace? Break These Bad Habits at Work.
You don’t necessarily have to make a big change to re-energize your career. Look closely at areas of improvement you can take on right from where you are now.
At MetLife, we’re for the workforce. Find more insights on company culture and other workplace trends here.