Whether you are a toddler taking your first steps or a CEO of a major corporation, continual learning has to be apart of your life. Continual learning is the constant development of complex behaviors with no final end in mind and the process of learning ever more complicated skills by building on those skills already developed (Ring, 1994).
The importance of continual learning in a professional environment is crucial to the success of your career. Continual learning provides the human capital for your background and determines how much of an asset you are to the company.
Continual learning in your professional life makes you more valuable to your company, increases your skill levels, and enhances opportunities in your current job. Making yourself more valuable in your company makes it harder for the company to replace you. If the company has to hire someone else to do your job, they will have to spend time and money to retrain the individual, thus, causing your job to be more secure. By growing your skill levels through continual learning, you receive an improved understanding and ability of your job. Also, with technology changing ever so rapidly, continual learning is needed to keep your job skills current. By taking advantage of continual learning opportunities within your company, you allow yourself the opportunity to move within your company to different job positions as well as increasing the knowledge of your current position. When you engage in continual learning in your career, it means attending whatever training one's organization requires and taking additional continuing education courses to stay up-to-date on topics that ensure you stay current in your discipline (Miller, 2002).
With the additional skills you acquire through continual learning, more personal aspects such as increased confidence, increased self-esteem, and high productivity are the benefits as well. By learning more job skills in your