A few days ago I received an e-mail from a surprised colleague. He’d spent 5-10 min. reading a blog and was shocked how much immediate benefit he received.

Apparently he’d read a discussion about Negotiating before venturing out to get maintenance done on his car. The result was a few hundred dollars saved; he subsequently went back for more repairs and extended that success even further.

However his epiphany was not about the negotiation success, rather the benefits of continued learning.

He came to realize that even though you think you’re okay with a particular skill, there is often still much to be learned. And, great progress and advantage can come from a relatively minor investment.

My experience is that surprisingly few people actively develop themselves and skills sufficiently to yield significant benefits. Life is seemingly brief, time is scarce with the result that real needs and opportunity get passed over.

Leaders show up for their jobs, do their thing all day (often very well), go home, return to work and repeat.

This process merely develops you for your current job; likely only incrementally improving capabilities as the months and years go by. There is usually little profound, new development to be gleaned from a recurring process.

If you’ve developed that essential strong career-image of who you want to be and by when, standing-still behavior just won’t get you there. As is often said, doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome is the very definition of insanity.

More than this, without investment you aren’t even working on the new and/or expanded skills your next role will surely demand.

If this is the case, unless someone in your desired future role helps you out by moving on, your current readiness, skills and capability won’t necessarily scream out the need for a promotion. Your demonstration of those next level skills just won’t be as strong. And, perhaps your competition has already figured this out?

How much do you have to learn to be noticeably ready for that new role and promotion? If you’re planning a specific career you can find out by asking the right people (mentors, HR, bosses, trusted colleagues, etc.).

How capable are you right now in those new, essential skills a role-change will demand? Again, if you don’t know, ask. Just don’t delude yourself about your capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Self-delusion is the enemy of personal development.

If you’re good at a skill, become accomplished. And if the skill is critical to your success, become visibly great.

No matter how expert you are in any field, you can become better. Even world-class Leaders separate themselves from the pack by exploring and practicing those tough things they personally need to perfect. And in doing so, they cause themselves to stand out.

The skills a manager might need are well documented, below. You can get unique, hands-on guidance   to walk you through the creation of a personalized, career-long development plan. Specific Skills you might require are drawn from the following comprehensive listing:

• Specific job-related skills and training

• Problem-solving

• Decision analysis

• Interpersonal skills/Management styles

• Delegating

• Motivating

• Planning

• Organizing

• Controlling

• Reengineering

• Team playing

• Leading

• Mentoring

• Time management

• Public speaking

Don’t be put off by the long list. Each of us requires only a specific number of and competence in these many skills. Consider just those you need and the competence level you will require.

Some skills and development can involve lifelong learning. Yet many others can be tuned-up and enhanced in (say) less than 30 min. of reading. Even a small investment in a critical area can help you begin to grow your expertise.

It is just important that you take action. Commit. If you’re merely standing still you will be far less able to move forwards.

Over the years I’ve personally been through Interpersonal relationships/Management styles training on four separate occasions. This was simply because my companies wanted to tune-up their management teams with shared experiences in this area. Never one time did I find that my additional investment was repetitive; there’s always an important new perspective and plenty more to learn. And, this is a very important skill.

Much the same is true for the colleague I mentioned at the outset. Surprised by the swift, dramatic and unexpected upgrade of his negotiation skills, he is hungrily requesting further reference materials in which to invest.

A successful career demands such investment. Even the greatest leaders have major gaps in their armor. They became exceptional because they learned and evolved.

Take a look at your own skills. How good are they, really? How might you grow towards your next role by developing and enhancing your current skills?

An hour invested here and there is often an eye-opener. Sometimes, only when we are committed to embark on a path do we fully begin to understand our true needs and the associated potential benefits.

So, take action. Look at a single important skill you know you need to improve. It’s most likely that even the briefest study on the subject will provide insight to things never before considered.

Here’s wishing you a productive development and profound personal evolution!

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh