Stagnant today? Prepare to become who you want to be tomorrow
Have you ever felt like this, right? Stagnant, listless, like the situation you have today (in your life, in your career) you don't like, but you also don't have the drive to do something to change it now. Okay, this happens. You can wait until you have the strength to make a change (or some circumstances that you are waiting for happen). But what are you doing in the meantime? We think that today we don't need certain skills or tools, because frankly we don't have anything to use them for, but it would be very useful for you to acquire them for tomorrow.
A very common case is networking (known as the ability to make and maintain a network of contacts). You're a happy employee at your current job (maybe not super happy, but at least you have no intention of changing jobs now, for whatever reason). So why do you need contacts? Are the contacts not just to find a new job? Well the answer is no. Contacts are precisely people to connect with but also the interesting thing about meeting different people and knowing how to cultivate relationships is being able to nurture them and being able to form new links. For example? Learn from others, discover different personalities, discover different professions, bond to build a project or a business together, advise each other, give encouragement and support,learn new ways of doing things, learn from the thoughts of others and the experiences of others. And all this, vice versa.
This is just one example, but there are others that are also interesting because they are tools or skills that we may not need today. Yet another case is leadership skill. Common thinking may be "if I don't have people in charge today, why should I train myself… when I have people in charge, I'll see what I do." This has two flaws (and frankly I can't find any advantage for it). First, leadership training is not only theoretical, but the leader must also develop his person and personal skills to become a great leader. This means that it is not automatic and often takes time. So, at the moment when the great challenge of leading people begins, there are not many times enough time to form oneself as such. Second question, although exceptions may occur,When in an organization they look for the most suitable person to lead a team, basically they are going to look for someone who has these skills already developed. And skills don't necessarily come with practice and experience. So a person who has an excellent gift of people, who is responsible, who knows how to communicate with others, who is highly organized and has the ability to analyze and improve and be a reference for others, is more valuable as a "future leader" than someone who does not demonstrate these skills even in his daily work (because he plans to acquire it once he has the need).So a person who has an excellent gift of people, who is responsible, who knows how to communicate with others, who is highly organized and has the ability to analyze and improve and be a reference for others, is more valuable as a "future leader" than someone who does not demonstrate these skills even in his daily work (because he plans to acquire it once he has the need).So a person who has an excellent gift of people, who is responsible, who knows how to communicate with others, who is highly organized and has the ability to analyze and improve and be a reference for others, is more valuable as a "future leader" than someone who does not demonstrate these skills even in his daily work (because he plans to acquire it once he has the need).
So my recommendation is "Prepare to become who you want to be tomorrow". And for this, 6 tips:
Tip # 1 - Define who you want to be tomorrow - This is basic and very obvious, if you do not know what you want to achieve, you can not set yourself to be. But many times it is not so obvious how we understand what we want to achieve. The trick is to forget about today, and focus and imagine yourself in the future. 5 years would be ideal. What kind of life do you have? What type of career do you have? What type of job do you have? Are you independent or do you work in someone else's company? Are you a leader or do you follow others? Do you set the course or are you one of the team? Imagine a business day, what time do you get up, where do you go to work, how do you start the day, who do you meet with, what type of connections do you have with others, what type of work do you do, what time do you finish,How do you feel after an ideal work day? This can help you define what type of work you would like to be doing in 5 years. This is called having a strategic vision of yourself in the future.
Tip # 2 - Find out what kind of person you have to become - Once you have that vision of yourself, find out what characteristics you will have and compare it with what you have today. What skills do you have in the future? What do you know how to do? What is your personality like? (For example you are an entrepreneur, you have high aspirations, you are a visionary) What skills and knowledge do you have? (For example, do you speak more languages?). There is a list of all those characteristics of your "Future Being" and compare them with your "I am Today".
Tip # 3 - Find out what you need to acquire to become that person - With the list in the previous point and its comparison with your current situation, define what you are missing. Do you have to do a course? Do you have to read more? Do you have to contact people who are already in that position? Who can help you? You have no idea? Investigate…
Tip # 4 - Find out what you need to leave behind to become that person - Sometimes the problem is not only acquiring what we lack but also leaving behind bad habits or inertias that do not help us in our future plan. Check your thinking and your habits today. Do you watch many hours of television? Do you have to become a more positive person and leave your complaints and criticism meaningless? Do you have to surround yourself with people who push you forward and not tell you "why change, if we are just as good (or bad)"? Search in your current situation what you must modify and destroy, to become who you want to be tomorrow.
Tip # 5 - Put together an action plan - take everything you learned and discovered in the previous 3 tips and structure it into a plan (so that it doesn't get on lists and happy wishes that you never did anything to bring them to reality). What will be the steps year by year, and then breaking them down month by month that you will have to take to, in 5 years or the date that you have stipulated, achieve being who you want to be? Structure and date everything you have listed so far. But you should also include checkpoints. What is this? An objective measurement that tells you if you are on the way to achieving your goal, or are straying from the goal. For example, an instance every 2 months where you will review your course plan, actions, experiences and new habits that you were going to acquire and there you will see if you fulfilled them or not. If you met them, celebrate. If not,Find ways to include it in a new version of the plan.
Tip # 6 - Start living and feeling like you are that person of tomorrow - start by making decisions based on who you will be in 5 years. Don't make decisions based on who you are today, but project yourself. This is a very interesting resource that helps your mind to “settle” into the future. You don't have to make big decisions, but start at least with small ones. Will you be a great leader in the future? Learn how to delegate. Do you want to be a great businessman? Learn how to outsource what is not strategic and is not in the value chain. Will you be a parent? Enjoy time with your nephews, godchildren, the children of your friends.
Invest your time and resources today, and prepare to be who you want to be tomorrow.
Do you need help to put together a strategic vision of yourself in 5 years? Do not know how to put together an action plan or do you have difficulties to change your habits and project yourself into who you want to become? Connect with me and I will help you achieve your most challenging goals.
