By Jennifer MacMillan
Wow, September already! Wasn’t it just March with all the new 2012 software being released?
What amazes me about September is that after so many years being out of school (No Hints!), September still always feels like the start of a new year. It gives us a second chance to look at things or set another New Year’s Resolution and start off fresh again. I started September by cleaning my desktop (actual and computer) and even that gave me a renewed sense of energy. Okay, maybe it is that I have started drinking coffee. Hmmm...there is my next resolution. I will save that one for January.
The idea of September and starting a new school year got me thinking that new beginnings should also be considered in the working world. Why not! We love learning. We are all back from holidays, are refreshed, and in a lot of cases our managers are looking at spending the rest of their budgets so they don’t lose them. To me this is the perfect time to focus on personal development. When was the last time you had training? I am not talking about the YouTube video you watched. It is really incredible to think how far training has come in the last 10+ years. There are so many training options available. Here are some ideas:
- Open enrollment training classes with a professional trainer and curriculum.
- Personal one-on-one consulting with a consultant.
- Live over the web training classes.
- Purchasing a hard-copy or e-book training guide for self-study. (Highly recommend ASCENT, great company! Had to say it!)
- Purchasing an on-line training course for self-study. (Again, ASCENT material rocks!)
- Accessing learning content through a searchable learning management system. (Wouldn’t you know, ASCENT offers this as well!)
- YouTube videos (I know, I kinda slammed this earlier, but it really is a great, economical way to learn something new. I wouldn’t recommend it for learning new software as there is a lot of smoke and mirrors included in these videos to help sell software, but there is some great information.)
- Custom classes for an entire company or team. (ASCENT is starting to get lots of requests for these. It gives companies the opportunity to create a course that is geared to only them. It can cut down on the number of days, focus on a specific workflow, or be written with the companies own models. I always tell customers “the sky’s the limit”.)
So... along with cleaning off your desktop, get a good idea of where you want to be in the next 6-12 months with your software skills and get some training. Have fun learning and have a great September!
Jennifer
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