What does being a professional really mean?
Professional is not a label you give yourself — it’s a description you hope others will apply to you. David H. Maister, author, True Professionalism
Being considered a professional varies, based on job or business requirements. While some fields require advanced degrees or certifications to reach professional status, many don’t.
Having degrees or certifications, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that professionalism extends outside technical proficiency because many other factors go to into being thought of as a professional. Generally, it means that you:
- Demonstrate knowledge and skillfulness in the practice of your work or business.
- Have practical experience working within your field or industry.
- Have achieved a level of expertise.
- Are recognized by peers as an expert.
- Commit to continuous improvement.
- Are accountable, reliable, and trustworthy.
- Communicate appropriately to achieve results and gain the cooperation of others.
- Have a high degree of emotional intelligence and self-regulation.
- Are influential.
- Conduct yourself according to ethical standards.
- Stand apart from others as more capable and experienced.
How many of these factors can you check off?
Does anything need some attention?
When professional development stops, you become stagnant and are unable to recognize or take advantage of opportunities for advancement or business growth.
Continuous Improvement Is Critical for Long-Term Success
By making professional development a high priority, you realize many benefits that contribute to your career and business. It helps you:
- Stay current with best practices, new technologies, advanced techniques, innovative strategies, and more. You become better equipped to meet challenges and overcome obstacles.
- Take advantage of opportunities. The skills that landed you in your current position or that served your business last year may be insufficient for moving forward. Business is constantly changing and shifting. What worked in the past may not work tomorrow. The more you enhance your skills and expertise, the more capable you are of recognizing and capitalizing on new opportunities as they arise.
- Be recognized. Recognition is a huge boost to self-esteem and self-confidence because it means that others acknowledge your expertise and achievements. It burnishes your reputation as a professional and can open doors to advancement. For example, at the start of my writing career, I won a national essay contest co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. That recognition led to my being promoted into a communications officer position in the financial institution where I worked. That promotion, in turn, led to starting my own successful consulting and training business.
- Gain life enrichment. The more you invest in self-development and skills improvement, the deeper and richer your life becomes. You open yourself to new ideas, challenge old beliefs that no longer serve you, and set higher goals for yourself.
Commit to Continuous Learning
Technology has made it easy to sharpen your existing skills and learn new ones. Don’t focus on just your field or industry. Widen your focus to include soft skills like oral and written communication, emotional intelligence, time management, and so on.
You can take a wide variety of online courses, depending on how much time and money you want to invest. Check out sites like gohighbrow.com, udemy.com, coursera.org, and edx.org, among others.
If taking a class isn’t feasible or attractive, listen to podcasts or watch Ted talks. Read books and blogs by experts in different disciplines. Follow great writers, thinkers, and experts on Medium.
Always be learning something!
Cultivate a Growth Mindset
According to Stanford University Professor Carol Dweck, Ph.D., there are two mindsets: fixed and growth. Those with a fixed mindset believe that they are limited in how much they can learn and accomplish. When you have a growth mindset, on the other hand, you believe that you can expand your existing skills and develop new ones.
It’s not easy to shift from a fixed mindset into a growth one, but here are some tips to try.
- Give yourself credit. Think back to times in your life when you successfully learned something new and succeeded. How about learning to drive? Getting a college degree? Cooking a delicious meal? All of these are examples of how you can learn and grow. If you can learn how to merge onto a freeway or parallel park, you can do a lot of other things.
- Read about new discoveries in brain function. Research is teaching us that the brain is more malleable and adaptable than we previously believed. You can retrain your brain, form new habits, and change your thinking.
- Develop a more flexible attitude. Instead of immediately stopping yourself from doing something because you “can’t,” stop and change “can’t” to “won’t.” Then be willing to try. Stop thinking of mistakes as failures and start thinking of them as teaching tools.
Be Happy, Positive, and Optimistic
Research shows that happiness and pleasant moods indicate physical well-being and lead to more adaptive coping skills. This, in turn, allows you to flourish and achieve greater success.
“It appears that happiness, rooted in personality and in past successes, leads to approach behaviors that often lead to further success. At the same time, happy people are able to react with negative emotions when it is appropriate to do so.”¹
When you are happy, positive, and optimistic, you communicate a high degree of self-confidence and assurance— characteristics associated with professionalism. You also appear approachable and seem easier to relate to. People like being around you, and your relationships are strengthened.
According to Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D.,
“…Positive emotions are vehicles for individual growth and social connection: By building people’s personal and social resources, positive emotions transform people for the better, giving them better lives in the future.”²
Developing as a Professional Means Success
What does it take to be considered a “professional”?
Whether you are in a career or are an entrepreneur, ongoing professional development is critical to your long-term success and business growth. It can help you meet challenges, overcome obstacles, tackle new assignments, take advantage of new opportunities, and much more.
- What are you doing now to develop professionally?
- What are you going to do tomorrow?
- How will you stay ahead of the curve and the competition?
Make asking and answering these questions part of your regular habit.
Additional Reading
Neuroplasticity & Mental Wellness: Our Path Forward by Lawrence Choy, MD
Shift Your Mindset by Saying Less of These Four Things by Todd Brison
Resources
- “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Sonja Lyubomirsky, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside; Laura King, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia; Ed Diener, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign and The Gallup Organization. Psychological Bulletin, 2005, Vol. 131, №6, 803– 855.
- “The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology.” Barbara L. Fredrickson, Department of Psychology and Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.