Future-Proof Your Career (Part 1)

Today, I’m starting a two-part series on how to Future-Proof Your Career. Interesting title, I know, but since I’m writing this at the height of the disruptive Covid-19 pandemic, I’m sure you’ll understand why.

Before the pandemic started, we had been hearing about how to prepare for the future of work and the work of the future. Naturally, that had a lot of people wondering, confused and possibly even scared about what would happen to them and their career. As it happens, the future has been brought even closer in the wake of the pandemic. There have been labour cuts, remote working, and businesses and other organisations have had to make huge adjustments in the last couple of months. Of course, there’ll be more adjustments in the months to come. The future will still present changes that many people cannot anticipate or predict and no industry is immune from shake-ups. Not even the ‘safe’ tech industry.

That’s why I’m sharing how you can ensure that your career is standing and thriving in any situation the future presents, whether that situation is from a virus, a recession or the fourth industrial revolution. I’ll be sharing three simple but powerful tips to help you prepare and ensure that you have a dynamic, evolving and successful career (and business), regardless of what happens in the future.

Unlike the change that is already upon us, the three things I want to share with you are within your control:

1. Recognise and protect your career’s greatest asset
2. Release your innate ability to adapt and innovate, and
3. Revamp your problem-solving skills

Recognise and Protect Your Career’s Greatest Asset

Your mind (and, by extension, what lives there) is your greatest career asset.

To truly prepare yourself for anything the future may present, you’ll need to safeguard your mind: what goes into it and what you allow to take root.

In the history of the world, there have been several upheavals, industrial revolutions and shake-ups. Human beings have gone through these changes and revolutions, world wars, different plagues and several recessions. And as with many things in life, some people thrived in spite of them, some survived through them, some barely crawled through, and some didn’t make it. The issue was not with the change; it was with the people. The individual was the determining factor.

You will thrive in any situation if you make the firm decision and put in the work. This is the period to dig your heels in and remember the natural resourcefulness and resilience of the human spirit and its ability to adapt and thrive, if you let it.

This is no joke, people, speak affirmations to strengthen your mind, assimilate facts and news with a resilient mind and keep your attention from people who are always filled with negative opinions of doom. As you keep informed on what’s going on around you, filter the information that eventually settles in your mind and affects what you believe.

Remember, the issue has never been with the concept of change. There will always be change; we need to make our peace with that. The difference is in how people perceive, receive and adapt to change. With the right mental preparation and beliefs, you can take on any situation. There is no career situation that you cannot recover from or turn around positively if you put in the required work. There are people who started new jobs, careers and businesses against all odds, at different ages and stages of life, and in spite of negative circumstances or stiff challenges. And there are people who, despite all they had going for them, believed that they couldn’t succeed and that was it for them.

In the next part, I will conclude with the next two tips. See you then.