Take Stock
Do you leap out of the bed each morning, raring to take on the world or open one eye and shut it again dreading that unreachable deadline or the monster of your boss? The professional aspect of one's life is as important as one's personal life and can either help you flower and achieve your true potential or leave you wilted and smothered, leading to angst, frustration and depression. But hey, your life is yours to live and enjoy, one can really shape it the way one wants to. Let the New Year be your excuse to effect that long overdue change.
Break Time
Take time off to pause for a moment and think where your life is going. Go inside and ask yourself if you really want to do what you are doing? Are you in a job/profession because you have a passion for it or simply because you have to. In case of the latter, allow the alarm bells to ring loud and clear, don't ignore that headache and just pop another pill. Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri points out that none of the people who make success stories set out to make money. "They are successful because they have a passion for what they do. Money is a by product."
One, Two, Change!
Never think it's too late to change. Management guru Subroto Bagchi, co-founder and now "gardener" of MindTree fame says, "In my opinion, as long as you are true to your calling, you could make complete changes in life at least three times." Of course any transition in life calls for some upheaval in set patterns and risk taking. But then, fortune favours the brave! Ok, we'll break the pep talk and sermonising and throw in a word or two of caution for the sceptic in you. Be absolutely sure of what you want to do next and then only chuck that job you may have spent almost half your working life at. Take a longish break to think and research things over if need be, before making a move.
Rut Sucks!
Sometimes, however, all you may need is a little shake up to get out of that rut, which almost every working person experiences sometime or the other. Set patterns in life have their own comfort quotient, but come with hidden dangers of boredom and apathy. It's a tricky game to find that fine balance here as in all aspects of life. Often when the rut does set in, we often resort to blame game, blaming the system, the organisation, colleagues, bosses. Bagchi advises to take time off and introspect if the rut is inside us or outside. "Pull back and ask yourself, where do I go from here? How do I know I am not my own enemy? In what way would I handle another assignment very differently next time? What would I stop from doing? What work would make me a more complete person?"
Leading By Reading
Chaudhuri suggests reading inspirational material to perk up. "Leading by reading is a motto I swear by," he says, ruing one of the worst downsides of modern lifestyle is that people's reading habits have been disturbed. "When you read books about world class organisations like Microsoft and Dell, for example, you learn so much about them, how they work, the problems they face and how they tackle it." The Journey Is the Reward by Steve Jobs is one such book Chaudhuri recommends.
Wear Your Attitude
The 'Ask' principle is another of Chaudhuri's pets. "Attitude, skills, knowledge – the three together make you who you are." Knowledge and skills have to be acquired, but the most important thing, says Chaudhuri, is attitude.
A positive, confident attitude and treating work as worship are clich?s that can never go out of fashion. "Great work can never go unseen," says Chaudhuri.
Prand Grooming
| Subroto Bagchi |
In this age of appearances, however, developing a good image is as important. Which is not saying be turned out in the most expensive brands and be a clothes horse, but a little attention to detail and dressing according to one's profession is important. "If you are a lawyer, for example, you should be crisply turned out, whereas a fashion or jewellery designer can obviously flirt with flamboyance a little," advises image and grooming consultant Chhaya Momaya. "If you a teacher again, you should be elegantly turned out, not too flashy, nor too strict," she says. A good personal PR completes the picture here. "Little things like direct eye contact and a firm handshake can make all the difference between making or breaking that deal," Momaya says. Using the full name when meeting a person for the first time, offering a light, general compliment and clarity of speech are pointers to personal grooming.
Management Skills
Thus fortified, shooting ahead in the buoyant economy of the country should be a cake walk for anyone with ambition, drive and the right spirit. There is a lot of churn in the job market today and people are getting more responsibilities at an earlier stage than experienced a few years ago. To be able to take advantage of the situation, people management and project management skills are two pointers offered by the head of research at CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited), Nagarajan Narasimhan. "Some of these traits are inborn. But of course one can also acquire these skills through proper training and experience," he says. Keeping ones eyes open for in-house as well as short term training courses offered in the market and making use of them certainly helps. Capability to plan, being able to manage uncertainties, good communication skills, being open to team members' concerns and sensitivities are must have qualities and skills if one wants to take one's career to the next level.
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