How I sailed through the marathon of my career
hello everybody
one of the most endearing memories i
have through my school days
is getting my report card my report got
that yearnier spoke
similar things very well done can do
better
excellent can do better
this can do better has stayed with me
for most part of my life
it defined how i looked at myself and
how i thought the world looked at me
after all the beliefs and perspectives
we get in our growing up years define us
approximately 72 young professionals i
coach
are spending over 100 hours a week
at work managing expectations of others
and more importantly managing
expectations
they have of themselves they are showing
signs
of burnout i can understand them
about two decades back when i started my
career
i remember wanting big designations
quick money
and trying to be successful whatever
was my definition of success back then
i was putting in long hours at work
doing late nights
trying to match pace with all the
geographies my work took me to
it was great feedback was good
except that i was burnt out
that was my first lesson in mental
well-being
that was the first time i realized that
being
mentally fit to do our role plays
a big part to do our work well
my coach back then sat down with me
and made me do my swot becoming aware
of my strengths my weaknesses my areas
of opportunity
the value i was bringing to the table
the impact i was making
helped me a lot it created a different
kind of self-awareness
another thing that helped me was taking
a balcony view of the situation i was in
which meant looking at things
objectively
without emotions was it easy
no it was not but i had to
because i was getting pulled in by the
emotions of the work i was doing
even today very often i take a step back
it makes me look at things objectively
and it makes life
easy corporate careers
are about 40 years from the time we
graduate
to the time we retire it is often said
careers are like marathon sometimes
i think it’s possibly not even a
marathon
it’s a very different country which
requires a different kind of endurance
because at different times in our career
we need different skills
we need different expertise to deal with
what
our career throws our way i have learned
to manage my energy differently at
different times
i have learned that different parts of
our career require us to manage our
energy
in different ways sometimes it’s okay to
rest
sometimes it’s okay to run we need to
know how to pace ourselves
a senior executive i worked with was
discussing his challenges with me last
week
one of the things he mentioned was that
he’s expected to have all answers
i was impressed with his vulnerability i
was impressed
with his courage it takes a lot of
courage
wisdom and humility to actually go out
there
and talk to somebody and accept that
you’re vulnerable
except that you do not have all answers
having all answers is also a story we
tell ourselves
that as leaders people need to have all
answers
that we need to have all answers
this courage to accept that we do not
have answers
makes us go out there seek help
ask people and leverage different
perspectives
getting different perspectives often
helps us look at things
with a very different mindset
it has worked for me quite often to just
be vulnerable
and reach out and seek help
a lot of women professionals i coach
also speak
about the glass ceiling
they talk about the challenges they face
in their careers
glass ceiling is a lot about the
opportunities we are denied
but it is also a lot about the
opportunities we deny ourselves
as i said a little while back the
stories we tell ourselves
make a lot of difference recognizing
that a lot of times
the boundaries around us are
self-created
is a huge step in in our career and in
defining where we are going
again it has been an awareness for me
that a lot of times what i am thinking
or what i think the world is thinking
about to me
is possibly nothing
it’s about what i think about myself
that defines me
sometimes we feel very stuck in our
careers
we feel that we’ve hit a cul-de-sac
there are no choices
no options we are going through the same
thing for a very long time
it’s important in those moments to know
that it’s time to manage energy
differently
to rescale ourselves i have seen a lot
of
senior professionals having the courage
to reskill themselves at various stages
of their lives
i have seen a lot of senior
professionals actually
moving from their careers and following
their hobby and their passions
at various times knowing when to
re-skill
then to take a step back and re-look at
your entire journey
of the career is important
the last one here has taught us all
a very different skill flexibility
the pandemic has showed a very different
side of life to us
which is that as many goals as we make
as much vision that we can have
about life and our career we can still
have
uncertainty like the one that we’ve been
going through in the last one year
the pandemic has taught us that
everything can fall in disarray at times
when we think about our careers of 40
years when we think about modularizing
them
and making short-term goals 2 years 5
years 10 years
everything at times can come to a not
it’s about adaptability in these
situations
it’s about knowing that these are times
to manage energy
to take rest to take a step back and let
things happen
go with the flow
careers are about being creative
being innovative and being entrepreneur
it’s about taking risk it’s about
knowing
when to take that risk it has helped me
in good stead
to look back and see at various times
how i have reinvented myself
the challenges that are thrown our way
require us
to actually
rethink and reinvent
and i know that it is not easy
but one has to do it in the grand scheme
of these 40 years
as i said it needs a very different
endurance
what has given me a lot of support
is knowing that each time when faced
with roadblocks and challenges
i have managed to look at my overall
mental well-being i have managed to look
at the biggest scheme of my career
and then work towards it
i have managed to drive like a phoenix
and that’s what matters
ultimately people do not remember events
people only remember the emotions
associated with it
that’s all i have to say thank you so
much