Best thing you've done for your personal/professional development

[user173687987]

Just that really - what is the best thing you've done/money you've spent on personal or professional development. Maybe it was to do with personal grooming or getting a career coach or doing some skills training etc......
Someone (juggling career and young family) once said the best thing she'd done was (a) get a cleaner, (b) get a personal trainer.
That got me thinking. I think it's really interesting to know what other people have done that they think was a really wise decision.......

Study with the OU.

If anyone knows let me know. I'm the team stopgap (my boss has said as such). I get lumbered with projects that no-one has time for and aren't important but need doing. Or I get projects as an emergency body until we can hire someone better to do them. Or projects that my boss hasn't got time to pay attention to so they need his sign off, he doesn't do it, and at the end of the year I have whole objectives that I haven't been able to achieve due to him and him alone.

I can't seem to translate the above experience or expertise into better projects because my boss never sees them as 'my projects' and my experience is never taken seriously.

Getting fit and healthy which in turn is good for my mental health. I exercise, sleep well, stay hydrated, eat well and have minimal alcohol. This makes me feel good and i wake up being able to function, no brain fog etc.
Also continual professional development - never stop learning!

Doing an OU degree followed by an MBA.

Therapy. I undertook it to work though issues around bereavement and a relationship breakup. It unlocked lots of blocks and changed my approach to how I manage a number of things in life.

As well as helping in a number of relationship areas, it has had unexpected benefits in my working life (I'm more direct and more confident in my abilities, which has had positive impacts and outcomes).

Honestly? Seeing a psychiatrist, being put on a mood stabiliser and an antipsychotic, and going back to work after a period of time off due to ill mental health.

4 new qualifications under my belt, whole organisational responsibilities and divisional responsibilities and my career is going really well.

If you’d told me this a year ago I would have wet myself laughing! If I can achieve this, then there is the potential for everyone.

• Working abroad for a couple of years - learnt a new language & developed confidence
• Volunteering in an unfamiliar sector & developing new skills that way
• Finally understanding that I am a capable person...

I spent 5 years working for a company that I did not particularly want to work for, because we needed the income. It was massively stressful but they pushed me constantly out of my comfort zone and I learnt a huge amount and developed a sense that I am capable of much more than I previously thought.

The next best thing was leaving that job to go freelance.

Also continuing to work when I had small children, even though sometimes I barely covered the childcare bill.