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Personal and Professional Development at LSST by Jonathan Green

Article Date | 26 June, 2017

After 8 years of assisting professionals from all different backgrounds on their career development journey, it has been my pleasure to work at LSST to enhance the personal and professional development of its students.

I have seen vast amounts of students from diverse backgrounds come to LSST, many sharing a common goal, to further their careers or to start their own businesses. When I come to speak to the students at the start of their journey I know, all have the capacity to succeed both academically and professionally.

So many have shown us that success is attainable despite seemingly insurmountable challenges. Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and James Caan have inspired us to believe that anything is possible. It is important to note that though many have trodden the path of success to show that anything is possible, the experience of others reaffirms that a wish alone often isn’t enough.

Through my experience and that of internationally renowned author and public speaker Brian Tracy achieving clarity is a major milestone to achieving success:

“Achieving clarity is a major milestone to achieving success.”

Clarity is the quality of being clear, clear of perceived limitations and clear on what a student or professional would want to achieve. Many students I have worked with have allowed not knowing what career or industry they want to work in, to hinder them from progressing. This stage is not to be ignored, as what once seemed frustrating, can become an exhilarating time of discovering the opportunities available and the skills students possess to enjoy a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Stephen Covey , author of the 7 habits of highly effective people created and taught the P/PC model which describes the balance of P (production) and PC (production capacity) the ability to produce. In applying this model to the student aim, Steven Covey states we should balance the focus and effort we put into creating our desired outcome whether it be starting a business or progressing in a person’s career with enhancing our PC as our ability to produce.

For the student this equates to putting the effort into producing a high standard of work and achieving their desired qualification (production). The student would balance this with enhancing their study skills, writing skills and research skills to increase their capacity to produce high standards of work.

The aspiring professional would focus their energy on excelling in their chosen field and producing great work in their role. Whilst improving their PC would be focusing on getting a better understanding of their industry, networking with high achievers, developing relevant skills and improving their health.

The beauty of the P/PC balance is it means that it doesn’t matter how far you have to go but how committed you are to getting there. The P/PC balance also teaches us to maintain our own well-being whilst shooting for success.

“It doesn’t matter how far you have to go but how committed you are to getting there”

The boldness of embarking on a journey of personal and professional development despite someone’s past, age, gender, race or perceived limitations includes setting clear goals that stretch us to be greater than we have ever been. In doing this, we come to the understanding that we are only limited by the extent to which we are willing to develop ourselves and not by past events.

I have seen this with my own eyes, that regardless of what mistakes or failures I have experienced in the past my ability to produce phenomenal results right now, is forever enhanced by getting clearer on my personal vision and by letting go of perceived limitations.

What could you achieve if you got clear on what you wanted and let go of your limitations?

Jonathan Green is a public speaker, former sales leadership and management trainer and part of the student support team at LSST.



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