What do you do each week to sharpen your skills? What do you listen to, read, or watch to develop new knowledge or learn more about the industry in which you work?

As individuals and professionals, it’s important to expose ourselves constantly to new ideas, methods and industry trends if we want to excel. The new ideas and concepts you bring into your mind will inject their way into what you do each day on the job.

With all of the media available to us in the information age, there are many ways you can accomplish this. The goal is to get yourself exposed to new information. Understand your own learning style and match that with the technology that best fits your schedule.

Here are some ideas to help you increase your info-opportunities during the normal workweek:

• Web sites/Blogs

  Search topics of interest to you. When you find good sites, subscribe to their RSS feeds. Online news sources are useful, too.

• E-zines

  Subscribe to some electronic newsletters or e-zines related to your industry.

• Social media sites

  If you’re using social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, search by specific topics or industries. Find key influencers to follow who post links to great information and resources. (Tweetdeck.com is helpful for searching and organizing various topics on Twitter.) The biggest advantage is that you can do it in two- to three-minute increments at any time of the day. Almost every social media site is set up to work with mobile devices, so you can access it on the go. You can find a lot of free teleseminars and webinars using searches on these sites.

• Books

  Take a book or magazine with you to read over lunch. If you don’t normally take a lunch break, start now. Even if you only get 30 minutes, start with that. Feeding your body physically (with food) and mentally (by reading) will give you the physical nourishment and mental invigoration you need to get you through the rest of the day more successfully.

• Scheduling

  Schedule at least 10 to 15 minutes for personal reading or listening time each day. You can get a lot of great ideas and information each day even if you only read or listen to something for 10-15 minutes.

• Exercise

  Listen, read, or watch while you exercise. It is a great way to make a workout go more quickly while filling your mind with useful information. It’s a great way to use one habit to motivate and facilitate the other.

• Be ready

  Have CDs, books, or other publications in the car when you’re waiting to pick up family members from their activities during the week. This is a great way to skim through industry publications that you receive, but rarely get time to review.

Remember: Just because you pick up a book or magazine doesn’t mean you have to read it cover to cover. Skim through to find the sections of information that are most helpful.

With all of the media options now available, there’s no excuse to not be benefiting from them. Be resourceful. Find the way that works best for you. Propel yourself to greater professional heights in 2010.

Julie Perrine is founder of Julie Perrine Virtual Associates and All Things Admin. She can be reached at Julie@julieperrine.com or (319) 743-3899.