Ideas on Future Proofing Your Career
A huge part of future proofing your career is being able to invest in yourself and reinvent yourself at this time when everything is rapidly changing in our world. Although this holds true for anybody in today's world, this is especially true for silver entrepreneurs.
My goal is to help you create a compelling future for yourself and your encore career. Through my podcast and website, Creating Your Encore Career, I’m committed to help you work where you want, work when you want, and at the pace you want.
In the book, Future Proof: Reinventing Work in The Age of Acceleration by Diana Wu David, she mentioned 4 steps in investing in yourself:
Experiment. - Try out new things, new ideas, new technologies.
Reinvent. - Rethink how the work you've done in the past can be applied to the future.
Collaborate. - Learn with others and as a group.
Find focus. - Focus on the whole, not just on your work, but also your home and other aspects of your life.
She also talked about 11 questions you need to be asking yourself to future proof your career. And then you can turn them into these 11 action points:
Disruption: Be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that technology, globalization and longevity will bring.
Values: Know your values and priorities for this week/month/year and prioritize activities accordingly.
Resilience: Make a list of 3-5 activities you can do when feeling down, exhausted or anxious (e.g. music, take a walk, bake).
Connection: Have 2-3 people to celebrate your big win with or to call in the event of disaster like a missed promotion, break-up or death of a loved one (“3 a.m. friends”).
Commitment: What beliefs would you fight to protect and engage each year?
Learning: Learn something new every year and make small experiments to see what you like or what you’re good at.
Collaborate: Find people for projects through your network and how to form a group to do great things.
Reinvent: Think of ways you could reinvent myself in case you lose your job. Make connections, build your skills, and try doing different things.
Focus: Figure out what makes you tick and how you focus best.
Success: Reflect on what success means to you today, in 5 years, in 20 years and in your eulogy.
Rebalance: Review what you do on a quarterly or half-year basis to make sure you’re spending time on the most important things.
As David Brooks says, “We’re all walking in shoes that are too small for us.” Whether you’re in the middle of your journey as a Silver Entrepreneur, or still starting to walk down this road, know that you’re capable of doing so much more. So always find ways to reinvent yourself and invest in yourself.