Growth and progression are relevant at every stage of your career — not just when you’re starting out.
Here are 3 tips from my own 20 years of ascending the career ladder.
1) Embrace Lifelong Learning:
After taking a seven-year break to raise my kids, re-entering the job market was difficult, to put it mildly.
Even though I had a Master’s in Biochemistry, two incomplete Ph.D.s (a story for another day), and a portfolio of published research papers in esteemed Biochemistry journals, I struggled to secure even a research assistant position.
Undeterred, I embarked on a new journey by returning to university, pursuing an additional degree in Information Technology.
The result?
Five job offers on the table—making the decision which one to accept a pleasant predicament.
But my story doesn’t conclude there. I continued to invest in my professional development, undertaking 2-3 courses annually at my expense.
This commitment paid off, propelling me into a senior manager position within eight years.
2) Mentorship Matters:
Success is seldom a solo journey.
We all require support to learn and grow. Instead of solely seeking mentors for myself, I actively sought opportunities to become a mentor.
Guiding others through their learning, assisting with implementation, and fostering growth became a rewarding part of my journey
Besides, mentorship is a two-way street; you not only impart your knowledge, but you also gain fresh perspectives from younger employees.
3) Build Professional Network:
As a seasoned professional, your network is likely one of your most valuable assets.
Although I am an introvert, I made sure I attended IT events, connected with colleagues in other departments and organizations, and took part in professional groups.
My career progression stemmed from the influence I cultivated with the individuals in my professional network.
Your journey doesn’t end with securing a job and doing well; it’s about evolving, adapting, and continuing to set new goals.
By embracing lifelong learning, engaging in mentorship, and building a robust professional network, seasoned professionals can not only stay relevant but thrive in an ever-changing professional landscape.
Category: Inspirational
Problems are projects!
It was a concept I learned last year.
It comes from the great mind-science pioneer Jose Silva.
When faced with a problem, don’t think of it as a problem.
Instead, turn your “problem” into a “project.”
What it means is, when you think about your problem, you are in a negative frame of mind. Your problem appears like a roadblock hindering your progress.
But when you think of it as a project, you get in a positive state of mind. You start thinking about how to solve it rather than remaining stuck.
When you create a project from your problem to move it from ‘problem’ to ‘ideal world,’ where the problem no longer exists.
Jose Silva had a creative visualization exercise for it.
He called this technique, the “Three Scenes Technique.”
In his famous Silva Mind Control classes back in 70s and 80s, he would get people to first visualize the problem and feel the pain rather than suppress it or push it away.
Then he got them to visualize themselves taking some action to move away from the problem.✨
And then, in the third scene, visualize themselves in an ideal world where the problem no longer exists and feel the joy and happiness of this solution.
This simple way of embracing a problem and then thinking of a project to make the problem obsolete, and then thinking of the end result when the problem has fully disappeared, is how I approach problems now.
I have a problem with my marketing skills. I have turned it into a ‘project.’
I am on to it. Soon, it’s going to be obsolete. And I will become an expert on the topic. 😎
I am taking several actions to solve it.
One of them is doing creative visualization meditations daily.
The second is studying the great marketers and learning from them.
The third is applying what I learn to my business.
The fourth is teaching others.
What problem do you have? Can you turn it into a project?
Self-doubt Is Our Ally
Self-doubt is your key to success.
Self-confidence is overrated.
Every personal development book puts “confidence” as the number one skill to achieve your goals. Like, if you have “self-confidence” everything else will come by default.
The problem is most people don’t have self-confidence.
Whereas everyone has self-doubt.
It is almost natural to doubt our abilities, our knowledge, our ideas, our decisions…
You don’t need “self-confidence” to achieve something.
You need “self-doubt.”
“Self-doubt,” helps you prepare better.
Makes you cover all grounds so that you can achieve whatever you set out to do.
“Self-doubt” helps you question whether you are on the right path or not.
It makes you analyze what should be the best way to achieve things.
Are You In The Arena?
When I started writing online, I was a terrible writer.
I chewed words.
I mixed up tenses.
My sentences were convoluted.
I made several spelling mistakes.
Once, in a writing workshop, a fellow writer said,
“Had it not been for the story, I would have thrown this submission against the wall for the number of grammatical and spelling errors it has.”
I was in tears that day.
I wanted to quit writing altogether.
I had spent hours editing and re-editing that chapter, and it was still that bad.
Then something happened.
I was surfing the internet, watching mindless videos to numb the pain when I came across the following video by Brene Brown.
The very quote by Theodore Roosevelt that changed Brene Brown’s life changed mine too.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
I sat upright.
My demeanor changed.
I made a decision at that time.
I am going to stay in the arena.
No matter what.
I kept writing.
I kept posting.
I kept creating.
And today I am the author of five books.
And teaching others how to write their books.
Don’t let your critics discourage you.
Don’t let perfection stop you from creating.
Don’t leave the arena because you are not good enough.
Because staying in the arena will be the only thing that will make you better.
Not just better, but unstoppable.
I am a different person than I was 6 weeks ago.
“What changed?” you may ask.
“Everything.” I would respond.
I was traveling through the US and Canada for the past 6 weeks. Each time I travel, I return as a different person.
Travel changes you. You see new things. You meet new people. Your perspective changes. And you transform.
“Travel and vacations are a means to reshift and reorganize identities,” says Karen Stein, author of Getting Away from It All: Vacations and Identity.
How did this trip change me?
I have a better clarity of what I want to do. Before this trip, I was agonizing for months about what to do. How to take my writing to the next level. How to find a niche so that I can stick to it for years to come.
During the trip, I realized, that although I am passionate about multiple things, my real passion is “books.”
I love to read them, and l love to write them. But more than anything else, I love to help others write theirs. Several of my students have published their books, and it has changed their lives. That makes me feel proud of them.
And proud of myself.
During the trip I realized if there is one thing I can’t live without – it is writing.
But writing in a vacuum has no joy. Joy comes from when others read your stories and are transformed by them. Joy comes from when you can teach others what you do and they can replicate it.
I must say, I lacked confidence in myself. I didn’t think I had much to offer.
During the trip, the confidence of the American people rubbed off on me and I am relaunching my book writing course, my newsletter, and my challenges.
For the next few days, I will work on those and reveal them as they get ready.
Stay put.
“Future is so bright that my eyes burn looking at it.”
Get out of your own way
We think of motivation as an example of Newton’s Law of Inertia.
You better keep pushing that motivation ball or it’s guaranteed to slow down and stand still after a while.
As a mental model, it’s a disaster.
It implies that our default state is one of “not taking action” and we must continually push ourselves to be productive.
It sets up a subtle but powerful internal conflict between who you want to be (productive and focused) and who you “imagine” you really are (a procrastinator and a slacker).
It means you have to force yourself to do things doesn’t matter how meaningful they are and how committed you are to doing them.
Then often, you grow so resentful of all these self-forcing that you rebel by refusing to take action, defiantly asserting your independence from the internal taskmaster, by failing to achieve the goals you care most about.
What if there is an alternative?
What if it’s “taking action,” rather than “not taking action,” is our default state of being?
What if the major problem isn’t we can’t get ourselves to work on what matters, but we erect psychological barriers that get in the way of action that might otherwise occur without too much effort?
That has certainly been my experience.
When I think about all the things I wanted to do in my life but failed to do them, the lack of time or motivation was not the issue.
Rather, it’s the fears, anxieties, and lack of self-confidence that ended up placing me in my way.
This shift in perspective of “action” as the default state makes it easy to take action. It makes the whole thing a lot less unpleasant.
I don’t have to force myself to do things that need to be done. Instead, just focus on doing whatever feels pleasurable or fun.
Once the pressure is off, and I am enjoying what I am doing, the same activities that I was forcing myself to do, are done effortlessly.