Take Ownership of your Actuarial Growth
By Harsh Mota
The Stepping Stone, July 2024
Recently, I have noticed a big focus on learning and development and wanting to upskill in different walks of life. In the professional setting, your company may have held seminars and training sessions, given you premium access to different learning platforms such as LinkedIn and Coursera to support your development. But how many have truly taken advantage of these resources at hand and accelerated that skill development? I would guess, it is not the majority. Maybe this is choice paralysis.
This article explores how to approach learning and development by putting you in the driver’s seat—focusing on what is important to you.
So, what is learning and development?
Learning and development is a holistic process encompassing the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to personal and professional growth. It involves deliberate efforts to foster learning through various means such as formal education, training programs, workplace experiences, and self-directed learning. Development goes beyond mere knowledge transfer, emphasizing the enhancement of individual capabilities, adaptability, and performance improvement. It encompasses both cognitive and affective domains (feelings, attitudes and emotions), addressing not only what individuals know but also how they apply that knowledge in real-world contexts.
It should be quite clear that learning is an active process. It doesn’t just happen because you say so, or your company is asking you to do so. Just like how elite athletes have hyperfocus from the very first step until the very end of their journey at their peaks, learning is a deliberate act of improving at something. The following approaches lay down the foundation for growth and development in any area of your life, whether it’s for a professional endeavor or a personal one.
Genuine Curiosity
This might sound obvious but it’s highly important to have the right orientation stepping into learning a new skill or making that behavior shift.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I genuinely curious in exploring the path ahead?
- Does the prospect of growth in this area excite me?
- What is my purpose for doing this—is it just a check box exercise, or will I actively use the skills to create an impact?
- Am I willing to persevere through the journey of change, and be comfortable in stepping outside my comfort zone?
Think about your actuarial exams, either presently or a few years back, how would you answer these questions in that context?
Regardless of the context, curiosity is a great filter to begin thinking about change and growth. If you aren’t curious and excited about the learning process, it will be painful for all the wrong reasons.
Behavior Shifts
Growth of any kind essentially requires shedding parts of you today in exchange for new and improved behaviors in future. You’re not just acquiring new skills, but you’re changing the way you apply yourself and hopefully, the perspectives you bring to the table.
The application of new skills isn’t an overnight result. It’s an outcome driven by persistent efforts over time. It’s not something you do one-off that matters, but it’s what you do consistently over a long period of time that shows up in behavior, over time. Compounding happens everywhere—trust, relationships, money, habits, etc.
As James Clear powerfully describes in his book Atomic Habits,[1] “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.” He demonstrates graphically[2] that a one percent improvement in any area compounded over a year results in more than 36 times improvement, a whopping 3700% return. Would you hesitate to make that investment if it was in monetary terms? If not, what is stopping you from investing in yourself every single day to shift your behavior? All you need to think about is making those +1% shifts each day. The results will take care of themselves.
And if you needed another famous personality to give their two cents on compounding, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.”
Priority Management
Typically, when we think about actuarial exams while we’re working a fulltime job, the priorities sort of fall into place by default and without cognitive effort in setting them. You tend to spend about eight hours working, and a good amount of leftover time over studying. Social life becomes a bit non-existent, especially closer to that exam date.
In a similar fashion, when trying to make time for learning a new skill or behavior, it’s important to schedule time for it. As mentioned earlier, results aren’t an overnight thing. You’ve got to make the time within your schedule on a weekly basis and evaluate yourself against a progress chart. As famously put by Peter Drucker, “You can't manage what you can't measure.” If you aren’t tracking something that is important to you, you’re unintentionally showing that it’s just not that important to you. Our intentions don’t reveal our beliefs, our actions do.
If the learning process and the destination are important to you, prioritize the efforts within your calendar.
Lean into Discipline, not Motivation and Unbridled Enthusiasm
I always think about resolutions on New Year’s Eve, created in ecstasy and enthusiasm in hopes of creating better versions of ourselves in the New Year. The context of “better” doesn’t matter but, a good portion of the population generally have health goals in mind.
The commercial world, especially gyms and other health care outlets, take undue advantage of this very fact. When people are raring to create a fitter and healthier version of themselves, the gyms sweep in with hefty discounts on memberships and fitness programs when someone signs up in that first week of the new year. People don’t think twice when signing up for a year-long membership, paying hundreds of dollars in the process, still under the influence of their over-the-board enthusiasm for change.
Three weeks into the new year and the motivation for “new year, new me” has been long forgotten. This is because old habits die hard. And just because the calendar year changes, doesn’t mean that you will too.
What is the point of that example?
Creating space for a new way of living, thinking, and applying yourself takes discipline, not motivation and inspiration. Change isn’t an outcome of serendipity. It takes active involvement from planning to execution. It’s a deliberate act.
We often fall prey to the “perfect moment” fallacy. This is the idea that we will perform the actions required to progress towards the learning goals when everything around us falls into place. The reality is there’s no such thing as a perfect moment, especially to put in effort towards your goals. You must create your days and weeks in such a way that you aren’t relying on inspiration or motivation to push you forward. Instead, dedicating time towards taking actions that are fueling sustained motivation and inspiration is a by-product of your system. How well your system is designed to get you closer to your goals regardless of how you feel will affect your results.
Don’t overwhelm yourself by dedicating massive amounts of time at the onset. It won’t be sustainable. Start small and build momentum as you progress.
In short, let motivation and inspiration be the cherry on the cake, and let the cake be the discipline.
Here are the takeaways to get started that will apply for professional and personal growth:
- Clarify your goals. Make sure they are yours and not somebody’s version of what you should aim for. Note that you can’t possibly do everything, all at once.
- Create a timeline for your estimated completion of your goal.
- Schedule weekly time to make progress. Learning is a deliberate effort.
- When it feels overwhelming, understand that progress is the only way forward. Lean into action.
- If you feel like you’re lagging, evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. Update your timeline and weekly schedule accordingly.
- At the end of the day, you’re in competition with yourself, not with other people. It’s your own procrastination and self-doubt. Don’t let others’ progress play games in your mind.
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Harsh Mota, FSA, is an actuary turned Health Coach helping clients with a host of health and wellbeing goals. He can be reached at mota.k.harsh@gmail.com, LinkedIn or http://www.harshtransformsyou.com