Thoughts on navigating 2021 better..

It's that time of the year when everyone revisits their bucket list, resolutions, journals and refreshes them for the coming 12 months. It's also a time when lots of youngsters seek guidance. Thought will put some of the FAQ and answers here... hope this helps you take those important decisions in 2021

• You can't sit out the coming years in an Education institute. Every recession has seen an increase in enrolment into Higher Education courses. People hoping that they can sit out this pandemic and the resultant impact are in for a rude shock. I predict that the most significant effect of 2020 will be on education. 
• Don't jump jobs for the sake of jumping - Came across 2 cases at 2 ends of the spectrum. 

1. Case 1 - A candidate stepped away from a Step change in his professional career cause he got greedy with his risk to return equation. Step changes in my career have happened to me by happenstance. It's just I took that challenging step, opted for some pain in the short term. The rough ride saw me come out stronger on the other side.
2. Case 2- An employee left cause he didn't know what he wanted from himself. Thought getting off the treadmill will allow him the chance to think and find his liking. I made this mistake and regretted it. You should make a move towards something rather than from something. 

• Build yourself in 2021 (Hopefully, you have started in 2020) - Get off Social Media (streaming unnecessary content) and write down the names of those skills where you know you are weak. 

1. Become Invaluable in your set up - Some play on the periphery and then there are others who play the game hard. I once interviewed an MBA job seeker who didn't like reading about business! If you are in the game, play the game hard. Keep investing in understanding nuts and bolts of your industry, company, competitors... Get the bird's eye view of the value you are adding and keep proactively wanting to add to that. If confused, speak to a mentor. 
2. Work on your Spoken and Written communication - Ability to communicate effectively in the coming years will be priceless. Given that the medium is gonna be less effective than face to face for some years to come. 
3. Go digital - There are enough and more ways to be digitally educated. Everything will be impacted by Digital in the next decade, you can't sit this one out and hope you get lucky and remain unscathed. 

• Money: This one is risky, but will attempt a piece of advice anyway. I have seen too many youngsters use appraisal percentage to measure the mark of respect or one up-man ship. The amount you get paid, normalised over a 20-year career, differentiates people by only 5 to 10%. In the first 10 years of your professional life, focus on taking bigger and bigger responsibility and mastering them to show results. So negotiate your appraisal, but don't make it an ego game. (I didn't follow this early in my career and suffered)
• Hustle hard - I have seen countless examples of people around me during 2020, again clear 2 ends of the spectrum.
• One end: Got down to nuts and bolts and did what had to be done. In most o the industries, these companies came out stronger. 
• The other end: People went about business as usual, cribbing about happenings around them, waiting cluelessly for things to happen. They suffered the most. 

Wish you a spirited fight in the next 12 months, hope you and loved ones relish this journey and enjoy every moment of the same. 

Happy New Year!

Sent from my iPhone