La Paz, Bolivia

[dropcap style=»default, circle, box, book»]P[/dropcap]eople have been asking me for years. Why do you still study? What are you doing this or that course for? And so many congresses? Well, I will get it off my chest in public. Firstly, I do it because I like it, and secondly I truly believe it is the only way to carry on growing personally and professionally. I have already said on many occasions that consultancy is all about continually innovating and you cannot do this unless you are always learning new things or updating your knowledge. For this reason, on-going professional training is of the utmost importance.

New academic studies and courses help me to:

▪   Learn and put in order the knowledge I have acquired with my experience. I can conceptualise this better after studying them.

▪   I also make strident efforts to improve my linguistic skills for some of the languages I am a little rustier in, this way I continue to learn whilst this opens new geographical options.

▪   During conferences and congresses, I always find a snippet from an address that, at the end, makes me think.That means it was worthwhile attending. Yet, aside from this, they are also useful for networking, making new contacts and getting back in touch with your old ones (something that is often forgotten when networking) and also to share my knowledge and publish one of those “papers” that have given me so much prestige over the years.

Of course, this takes time and effort and no doubt a well-versed reader will ask, so how do I do it? Here is my secret, I only do three types of activities in my life: Those which are physiologically necessary: sleeping, eating, etc. You don’t need me to name them all. Secondly, those which allow me to grow as a person, in my case, these include looking after and enjoying time with my family, travelling and getting to know the world, doing sports, talking to my fiends and sharing a beer with them, writing, watching a good film and many others. Finally, there are those that allow me to do the other two activities better, basically I mean working, studying, reading.

[two_third]Any other activities of those that are widespread nowadays (playing videogames, watching series after series, or what is worse, watching rubbish like JEREMY KYLE) are mere pastimes that in no way achieve the aims mentioned above. I do not take part in these activities, as they do not furnish me with anything of any worth. That said, I respect people who enjoy them, simply, they are not my cup of tea. That is why I always have time to learn continually. I cannot recall the name of the wise person who responded to the question “Master, how come you have learnt so much? Well, by taking advantage of the time between when they tell me to come and sit and the table and when they actually serve the food”. I follow this ethos to the letter.[/two_third] [one_third_last][/one_third_last]

What type of professional training do you recommend for a consultant in the different stages of their work? What type of Congresses do you benefit most from? Feel free to comment, especially if you love series of any type…