Learning is not as easy as we think. New skills and knowledge are easy enough to learn but fundamental changes to what we believe are not so easy to digest.
How good are you at learning new things at work, really? You might be an early adaptor of new technology, someone who reads avidly and who learns something new every day. But can you think of suggestions that others have made that you have argued vehemently against? Have you ever been given 'constructive' feedback on your way of working that you have managed to explain away or blame on something or someone else? How often do you feel that your hands are tied because of what 'they' are doing or not doing? When you feel defeated by circumstances, do you give up or really challenge yourself to think 'What can I do to improve this situation?'
One reason we don't learn as readily as we think we do is that we tend to stay within a fairly narrow comfort zone. We don't really challenge our fundamental beliefs by stepping outside our comfortable skins. I have found that traveling to foreign countries helps me to broaden my perspective or working with very different people. Significant change is stressful but it forces you to rethink what you are doing or how you are doing it. Forcing yourself to shift gears, however, can improve your 'career immune system' as we might call it. As with successful businesses, diversification is like an insurance policy against obsolescence. Try it, you might like it!
