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