‘Reinvention’ must be your mantra in the Covid or post-Covid era. We do not need to tell you how the pandemic has changed the very fabric of how we think, live, work and plan our lives and days. Never before was the world ever caught in a conundrum as chaotic and as disruptive as this. There is almost a homogeneity in this entire situation. The homogeneity or alignment lies in the fact that the world is going through the same upheavals, similar uncertainties and more or less the same question of “what happens next?” The world has been caught unawares and everyone finds themselves either scrambling to make ends meet, or manage home and work remotely, maintain a psychological, physical and mental balance or dive nose-deep into existing careers to stay afloat and deal with performance anxieties.
The professional scene has taken the biggest churn and many organisations and companies have had to take knee-jerk decisions regarding their staff and numbers overall. And that has brought out a gaping void in the ways we work and the ways we deal with our professional lives and careers. I am sure, everyone will agree with me when I say, that, gone are the days when you could have long-career plans of spending five years and ten years with one company. The foreseeable future today is so dynamic, is shape shifting so much so soon, and just about so uncertain, that any long term plans seems foolhardy. The revelation and the biggest lesson out of these times has been the need to ‘Reinvent’, update and stay agile to new learnings, transformations and keep your senses closer to the ground to understand what is working best.
Now, Reinventing does not happen overnight. It is not about waking up one morning to say that from now on I will be agile. Reinvention and updation needs a tad more thought than that. Here are some ways by which I think you can keep yourself more relevant for career growth and have a fulfilling, productive and a creative professional life post these trying times.
- Avatar-ise Yourselves
Don’t worry! I am not getting into writing a review for the movie ‘Avatar’. What I mean is that never before has it been more relevant to tap into all your likes, hobbies and existing skills. Delve deep into understanding more of what you like and more of what you have always wanted to do – and upgrade! So, while you are marking your time as a Chartered Accountant with a financial company, there is no stopping you from throwing some clay on a potters wheel and hone your pottery craft. Create those multiple avatars of yourselves…if you think you make a great motivational speaker, if you can run a side business on crafting, if you can do something on YouTube, if you can churn out words that touch every soul that reads them, then do it. Now! is the time. Dig deep. Take that chance on yourself. And upskill. And create multiple platforms to reach out.
- Amplify Your Digital Footprint
The days of physical contacts are gone. At least for now. The days of pop-up markets and exhibitions, live shows, promotional activities and any activities that need more feet to come together in a geography are better if kept to a minimum. But that should not make you invisible. If there is one big takeaway in this pandemic and the pandemonium that it has created, is that, get out there and get visible. You have the world in your palms and the world is seamless. So amplify your thoughts, your connections, your good intentions and your skills to the maximum. Study and upskill on your social media skills and understand how you can make better and more impactful impressions in fleeting seconds. The idea is to Connect! Share!! Amplify!!! There is no better time to ride the broadband wave than Now!
- Get Schooled! (Pun Intended)!
Go get that degree you have always wanted to have, that you never had the time for or any certification or degree that you think can bolster your knowledge and everything that you already know. The age of ML or machine learning and AI is upon us and we are more deeply entrenched in them than you can ever imagine. So you will never be at a loss to know a bit more about data science, how it affects you, how it is omnipresent and how you can effectively employ it to make it more relevant to your work and business. You don’t have to be an IT professional to get your dose of technology and its relevance in todays’ times. It can all be tailored to meet your needs and your business and career requirements and you can only be ahead of the curve with some academic know-how and professional training.
- Dignity Of Labour
Never before was dignity of labour more relevant than now in our country. It was always a ‘given’, an unwritten code of conduct that every kind of work is respectful, dignified and your work does not define your status in the western world. But that was not necessarily the case in our country. But the pandemic era has us juggling multiple jobs, different kinds of portfolios and side hustles. You can be an online tutor and be an uber drive in your free time. You could be marking your time as an IT professional but also spending your evenings teaching a foreign language over Zoom. There is dignity in every work, every skill, every job. With traditional jobs more uncertain and layoffs unrelated to performance is rife. Hence it is that much more important to dabble in multiple jobs and use your skills to create more income avenues.
There are more ways to look at this chaos and ruffle all our feathers and get antsy. We cannot discount the stress of trauma, tragedy, lack of infrastructure and the unseen pounds of pressure that is now lying on our heads and hearts. But the productive and creative ways to tide over these trying times is to keep learning. The future on the other side of this may seem uncertain but it will definitely be more evolved, more flexible, more sensitive and more skill based. So this is the time to strengthen your core! Not just with the workout sessions and resistance belts, but strengthen your inner core with more learning, more education and skill upgradation. You will come out on the other side feeling good about yourself, trust me!
Bossgirl 