(NNPA)—Today, we see an entire generation of new young leaders and entrepreneurs alike struggling to make an impact. This is the age of social networking with Facebook, Twitter, Google and mobile technologies enabling people to connect with millions in geographically dispersed locations worldwide. Enterprises from home-based startups to youth club ventures to Fortune 500 companies are restructuring workforce and productivity models using efficient collaborative network tools. Whatever your profession, you will never be able to stand idle or be underutilized. Dynamism is the new catchword and anyone who deals with the problem of constant upward mobility needs requires being “fit” to keep up. It isn’t enough to be merely “good” at one’s work, field, or trade, one requires excelling to make the difference. To do so, one has to be totally up-to-date with the latest that is happening in one’s chosen field.
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It is immaterial what your discipline happens to be or how old you are. Yesterday’s skill-set and yesterday’s knowledge has no value. One doesn’t have to be necessarily “with it” but aware and current. You need mental aerobics and skill-set calisthenics to stay “in shape” for the future. Doing this is not the easiest thing to do but one’s options are limited to progress moving forward.
It is not the high-tech world that is changing; it is the happening thing in every field and trade. New methodologies are shooting up in every area. Don’t become susceptible to obsolescence. Your need to stay “fit” is far more urgent than anything else. What you learned in school or otherwise has little validity in today’s world of quantum leap changes.
The sky is the limit. Why limit the possibilities of gaining business exposure by staying confined to a stationary expensive fixed office overhead. Get out there and make it happen—all we really need is a cell phone, laptop and WiFi Internet connection to launch a viable startup from any geographic location worldwide. It was different back in the mid-’90s.
In every walk of life the emphasis is placed on getting into your gym shoes to redefine your mental and physical fitness. Pointers to stay ahead should include the following regimens to enhance and reinvent yourself:
Insure yourself by continuous learning: Most professions have courses going on all the time. Online seminars and workshops are held all the time; attend them as you might to your fitness regime. The self-learn programs do actually help…it just depends what you personally gain from them. They are, like your daily physical workout, repetitive perhaps, but they help keep you from a systems failure!
Keep your eyes and ears open: Never neglect to pay attention to anything new that is happening in your profession. Online and industry magazine research will prove invaluable. This helps you to clarify your thoughts on the innovation and it helps to extract information that they may have which perhaps would not have come to you any other way. Invest in the future. Networking is the new mantra that has become the chant of developmental gurus. Attend industry events listed in the local Chamber of Commerce websites, read the latest from the best sources, in short, be seen, and be noticed!
Look at what’s happening outside your window! You may not be affected by changes happening in other agencies and other industries. This is the time for you to apply the lessons from what you can see happening outside your workplace. Figure out ways and means to be a jump ahead of the curve to start a business venture of your own.
When you apply your mind to it, you will see that obsolescence is an issue that you need to factor into your career plans. Changing jobs is no answer; studies have revealed skills learned on a job can be more successfully transferred to start your own business venture as a career-alternative.
A fresh mind enhances your personal economic outlook and income generation strategies. You need to have that edge, that knowledge base that puts you on the cutting-edge. If you ensure that, you will not merely survive, you will thrive!
(Farrah Gray is the author of “The Truth Shall Make You Rich: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity,” “Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success” and the international best-seller “Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out.” He is chairman of the Farrah Gray Foundation. Dr. Gray can be reached via e-mail at fg@drfarrahgray.com or his website at www.drfarrahgray.com.)
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