In order to reach your goals fully, it has always been advised to step out of your comfort zone-which simply means challenging yourself in everything you do. This can mean tasking yourself to expand your skills or improve your performance as an employee. Such can boost your reputation and value at work; hence providing opportunities to enhance your abilities and future career prospects. According to Gregory Mutabazi, the manager at Arc Consultant LTD, an engineering company based in Kigali, personal growth is one of the most important aspects that come with challenging yourself at work. Although this cannot be as easy as it may sound, in the end, it helps with learning and experiencing something new. In order to challenge yourself, Mutabazi says one needs to be competitive even at work. “What this means is that one needs to simply try to be the best that they can be. This can be achieved by looking at what made you succeed previously and focusing on it to define new goals to work toward,” he says. Greta Gwiza, an entrepreneur with a financing enterprise says to challenge yourself means one has to have a positive mind in whatever they decide to undertake. She believes that this is one of the most attractive characteristics of an employee in any organisation. Also, she says challenging yourself means one is able to always approach tasks irrespective of whether they are difficult or easy ones. “A positive attitude gives you morale and belief that you can do it. For this reason, it’s ideal to always believe in yourself and your abilities, something that will help you accomplish your dreams,” she says. Fredrick Atinga, an educator, says another aspect on how to challenge yourself is to stay connected as well as embrace team work. This means learning from others, which is a vital part in your overall career success. In addition, he notes that one needs to ensure they stay connected not only with their team they are working with, but also network with others. “By communicating with other people and colleagues in different areas and positions, one will definitely gain a different perspective they can apply to their work,” he says. However, Atinga says being independent is also important when it comes to challenging yourself. He goes on to note that this can mean fulfilling your responsibilities with minimum support, which will make an individual feel more challenged but at the same time find great sense of accomplishment and fulfilment. The educator also points out that it’s ideal to always evaluate yourself when it comes to challenging yourself. This can be achieved by frequently evaluating your strengths and weaknesses in relation to your position. In the end, he says it will help to overcome negative aspects of your performance and utilise the positive ones. Mutabazi says challenging yourself will help improve your career performance as well as provide the perfect opportunity to enhance your skills and future career prospects. By adopting this approach, he says, it will also help gain invaluable skills and experience that will be of importance in future. “It also provides a deeper concentration and a greater sense of calmness and happiness, because you will know that you have achieved something. It is believed that every time one overcomes a problem, they experience personal growth in some areas,” he says. For instance, he says one’s confidence increases because you prove to yourself that you can overcome this challenge. Your skills grow as well as because you have worked on improving them. As a result, Atinga says when one is confident in what they are doing, they are in a better position to work effortlessly in every task they attempt to do, whether at work or outside the work environment.
