Willingness to Learn Shapes Your Career

Whether the job we hold is a temporary or a permanent one, there is one important aspect which will enhance your stature with your employer. Irrespective of your qualifications and experience, if you show a willingness to learn, it will help you to overcome many minor hiccups.

There is nothing wrong if we cultivate an open mind and a readiness to learn. It is true that we may have adequate experience and knowledge in the particular field of our employment; in fact that is why we got the job at all in the first place. However, learning is a life-long process.

When one thinks that he has learnt enough and that there is nothing new to be learn, a stagnation will set in which will eventually make him out-of-date and even useless in the organization. What is it that distinguishes an employee with an open mind from others who refuse to learn? Nothing but the ability to perceive that there could be new things to learn and improve our knowledge in the specific area.

The world in which we live is moving so fast that there are breath-taking new applications and ideas which simply sweep away the dirt of the accumulated years. To stick to old and tried method is of course good. Nothing wrong with that. However equally important is to keep our eyes and ears open so that new frontiers are explored and better alternatives are found.

Willingness to learn is an attitude. New ideas can lighten the present burden and also serve as a trial. After all a trial costs nothing. We can always discard if the new ideas are not as effective as the old ones. This ability to try new methods, willingness to learn does not arise out of mere curiosity. It comes from a genuine desire to improve the system in which we work and our own attitude towards what could be effectively be adopted as a change for the better.

Willingness to learn also implies the capacity to absorb the product of current thinking. Accordingly it follows that one is open to improvement and new suggestions. This fresh approach will also be followed by our colleagues and this will remove drudgery from the work we daily turn out.

It is not as if every week new ideas will emerge which will make our present working ethos obsolete. What is stressed is that if doors are kept open for innovation and experimentation, better results would flow. If you look at the history of humanity, you will notice that progress has been possible whenever a society is prepared to extend its present horizon.

When you show a desire to learn further in the field and not allow yourself to be bogged down by deadweight of past merely, your way of functioning will be a source of inspiration to your higher officials as well as subordinates. You will be looked upon as one who could be trusted to show the right path.