Throughout your life, you have acquired skills, abilities, and knowledge from your education, job, social situations, and experiences. These may include leadership, confidence, technology, teamwork, and, most importantly, the ability to learn.

To advance in today’s world, you must both acquire new skills and improve the ones you have. First, recognize the skills that you have. Without this recognition, it is easy to gloss over the various abilities that you have and maybe even lose them!

To continue growing, focus on areas that will help you, whether they be for your job or personally. For example, you may want to work on your interpersonal skills and how to communicate better with others. You may also want to better organize your time, improve delegation skills, and be more efficient. Development and growth are advantageous because as you improve yourself mechanically you grow psychologically.

How do you do this? Take a class. Find a mentor. Consider coaching.

Ask to attend trainings that your organization may offer. If they are not offering training, suggest it, as there may be others who would be interested if given the opportunity.

Put deadlines on your goals. Ask a friend or mentor to be tough and hold you accountable along with asking them to give you feedback and encourage you.

Practice your new skills both at work and in your personal life. The more you do, the better the mastery.