5 Personality Traits That Can Boost Your Professional Development

1. Willingness to Learn

Remember, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. 

Possessing a willingness to learn is one of the most useful traits an individual can have. To improve, you have to be willing to make an effort to learn new things. This includes learning new skills and improving your academic knowledge. Modern-day employers appreciate employees who act on their willingness to learn by taking classes that coincide with their career path. For example, you may choose to attend an online summer or winter school to help you boost your academic knowledge or join a local workshop that can teach you useful trade skills. One of the benefits of joining online classes is that you can attend them anywhere in the world. Online classes are also significantly safer than in-person sessions due to the risk posed by the current pandemic. You can also focus on boosting your career once the pandemic is over by attending in-person classes.

2. Eagerness to Follow a Role Model

Displaying a keen interest in learning new things is excellent, but it isn't enough; you also need someone to learn from. This is why all successful people have at least one positive role model in life. A role model doesn’t necessarily have to be someone you know personally (although it can be if you want). Many people choose to follow influential people from the past, like Buddha, Gandhi, and Muhammad Ali. 

Reading books about your role models or watching biographies about their life can help you learn valuable lessons from their personal struggles. Once learned, you can implement these lessons into your professional life, ultimately improving your personality and career. 

3. Optimism and Positive Attitude

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. 

The ability to find that glimmer of positivity within an otherwise negative situation is one of the most valuable traits a person can have. Employers look forward to having positive-minded people on their team. They want to know that the person they’re hiring will actively work towards finding solutions instead of focusing on the negatives and getting overwhelmed when things don’t go as planned. Optimism can take you far in your professional life, so try and adopt this trait into your personality by searching for positive opportunities and solutions instead of allowing negative feelings to drag you down!

4. Having Well-Rounded Interests

If you look at the personal and academic records of graduates from the world’s top-rated universities, you’ll notice a clear pattern: all of them actively pursued interests outside of the academic realm. Engaging in healthy activities outside of your career teaches you valuable interpersonal skills. It can help you build a well-rounded personality (which employers love to see because it allows you to stand out from the competition.)

Also, pursuing a hobby you genuinely enjoy is bound to improve your overall life satisfaction and happiness levels. Remember, a happy employee is a productive employee! So, if you’re planning on boosting your professional success, you best step out of the box and pursue interests that are not directly related to your career.

5. Discipline

It is impossible to attain professional success without integrating discipline into your life. 

Here are some tips to help you be more a disciplined person: 

• Create a schedule and stick to it. However, make sure that your schedule is not too strict, or it’ll become difficult to follow through with. Failing to follow your schedule might demotivate you and distract you from your goals. So, make sure that you create a schedule that is flexible and filled with achievable goals.
• Monitor your time. Do not spend more time than you know you should on certain activities. Set apart a specific amount of time for family, friends, hobbies, and your career. Also, make sure you get enough sleep, or else your performance at work will definitely suffer!
• Organize your files effectively. Some people use binders, while others prefer organizational mobile apps. Find what works for you and stick to it! 

Having a disciplined approach to life can significantly improve the number of professional goals you can achieve within a set time frame. So, be sure to integrate these tips into your daily life for professional success!

Conclusion

Human beings are constantly changing. Our personalities began developing from the moment we entered the Earth and are still evolving. However, whether our personalities become positive ones or not depends on us. To improve your chances of succeeding in the professional realm, you must focus on adopting a positive personality and building that positive personal brand. Use the tips listed above to help you create a persona that will wow your employers and enables you to unlock the professional success you’ve always dreamt of!

Sources: workology.com | cnbc.com