I'm off for the better part of the day to attend a retreat/workshop as part of a nine month certification course I'm taking (I will, however, be around this afternoon for a short bit at 2pm for a live Hangout on Air with +Steve Garfield for the The Road to SXSW show!).

We meet weekly as part of a phone conference, and every three months in person. As part of my business and career, I provide coaching and mentoring to professionals (mostly women). I help them to define, create, and refine their digital presence and in the process become stronger leaders and role models. I don't look at this function from a strictly technical, marketing, or business perspective – I look at it holistically.

Successful – and balanced – professionals take into account more than just their "9-to-5" or the things that pay the bills, they actively work to interconnect everything in their lives to work fluidly. This is why I'm perusing certification and why I choose to further my own skills and tool set in order to help my own clients, even after 23 years of being a professional myself. Never. Stop. Learning.

Learning takes many forms to me. Sometimes it is the simple act of observing another person, even from afar (or online). Sometimes working with my own clients or volunteering to help someone 'just because' teaches me just as much as the others gain. Conferences are a huge part of my learning, for the content, but even more so for the conversations and interaction (LIVE in person!!) that I participate in. But sometimes a more focused, personalized, and long-term curriculum is needed to make leaps forward instead of steps.

Some days I wonder if the time I am putting into the program is worth it, but I know the short term loss in my time will benefit in long term knowledge, so I stick with it.

That got me thinking….what do you do to make yourself better?

Google+: Reshared 2 times
Google+: View post on Google+