Even if you possess a doctorate or a PG degree, the chances
are that your degree is not likely to give you all the knowledge and skills
that are required to sustain your career growth in this changing technological
era. To give your career graph a good boost, you are expected to keep learning,
grooming yourself and gaining new skills throughout your lives. Thus, in order
to achieve your dream goals, you need to pace up with the changing trends and
lifelong learning is the best tool for achieving those goals.
Here in this blog, we’ll take deeper insights into what is
lifelong learning, it’s benefits and types.
What is Lifelong Learning?
Lifelong learning is a process by which professionals keep
on adding and gaining new valuable skills throughout their lives. This process
doesn’t only add to their experience but enhances their knowledge as well.
Many professionals choose to pursue higher education for an
unprecedented personal development to add full potential. But there are some
who think continuous learning as a great medium to take their career to the
next succinct level.
Well, lifelong learning is a broad term which covers diverse
learning experiences at any point in time. It totally depends on individuals
perception that how they want to shape their experience. Lifelong learning not
only imbibes self-confidence but also motivates the professionals to grow to an
unsurpassed level in their careers.
Why is Lifelong Learning so Important?
- Creation of new career opportunities
Acquiring new skills will certainly unfold the doors towards
a lot of new and exciting opportunities. You may get your promotion for
which you have been longing for a couple of years. In fact, you may become
eligible for your dream company.
Most of the professionals learn new skills related to their
current job profile. This certainly helps them improve and maintain their
skills and as a result, the quality of the product in their organizations gets
much better.
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- Job mobility
Gone are the days when blogging and writing were seen as
hobbies. Now the complete world is ruled by content marketing strategies. Blogs
are now considered as an effective medium for communicating with the users and
the public. By taking a few courses in blogging and related fields, you may
easily start work from home and end up as a professional writer.
- Pay Hikes and Promotions
By grooming your managerial skills, who knows, you may get
promoted as the next team leader or the project manager of your company.
By adding certain professional skills to your profile, you
will certainly be able to make the company realize your worth.
The Hiring managers are certainly more interested in people
who are certified professionals as it helps them make a positive impression on
their clients. Hiring quality and certified professionals as team members
also adds value to the company’s profile.
- Job Retention
Professionals engaged in continuous learning are the ones
who are retained during the recession layoffs. If you are a continuous learner,
your knowledge and skills will help you retain your job for a long time as the
companies fear to lose their talented bunch of employees.
- Confidence Building
Learning new skills definitely act as a booster for your
confidence level. It imbibes a sense of accomplishment in you. Also, you
will be earning more money than people having a narrower skill set as compared
to yours.
This certainly is a great medium to keep boredom and
negative thoughts at bay. Keep challenging yourself for newer ‘learning’ as
they will certainly leverage a refined personality of yours.
- Life Enrichment
A new flavor gets added to your life both professionally and
personally. It marks a deep sense of satisfaction that “Yes, I have learned
something new!”. You will feel connected to the world too.
Continuous learning is like going to the gym for your brain
which keeps your brain muscles in shape and prevents them from deadly
corrosion. Keeping your brain in tip-top shape will also help prevent diseases
such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Types of Lifelong Learning
There are many ways in which you can keep on grooming your
levels of learning depending upon your needs and goals:
- Formal lifelong learning
The best examples of this type of learning are the
professional degrees such as B.Tech, M.B.B.S, any post-graduate degree etc.
Formal lifelong learning forms a part of an organized and well-structured
learning framework. It is a part of a scheduled and monitored sequence of
coursework. It offers a professional recognition to an individual.
- Self-directed learning
In this type of learning, the individual has full control
over the pace as well as the path of learning. For example, when you enroll
yourself for any kind of online courses or join a coaching center to add on to
your knowledge.
These courses do not offer any recognition
unlike courses associated with formal learning.
- Professional learning
Professional learning is associated with the profession or
job of an individual. It includes professional development learning programs
offered by employers through company-sponsored seminars, training, workshops
and conferences.
It also includes engaging learning activities such as
YouTube, TED Talks, articles, journals, professional blogs etc. And
professional learning also includes staying active with the connections in your
social network so as to stay informed regarding the current trends impacting
your career or industry.
Such opportunities are usually strictly optional, but taking
an advantage of them may certainly give you a better professional edge.
A few final words:
Inculcating lifelong learning as a habit leads to a healthier,
happier and more fulfilling life both personally and professionally.
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