How Am I Upskilling Myself At Home
Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place — that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realize the great life — A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Past few months have really been difficult for all of us. Adjusting to a new routine, finding a balance between work and life. This year really taught us a lot in every way possible and we need to re-look all aspects of our life like never before.
While this is a challenging time for all of us, we can use this time wisely and productively to up skill ourselves. This, in turn, will place you in the best possible position to advance your career in a post-covid-19 world. It’s going to be a lot different for sure.
Companies are shifting their focus and re-strategizing the way they run business. Economical conditions are not great, some of the industries getting flatlined. Now the question is if we are going to come out strong after this pandemic is over or not?
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… In the real world all rests on perseverance.
The way we used to work earlier, may not be the case in future. Companies are focusing on digital transformation, application modernization and looking for new and innovative ideas to survive in industry or widening their services and infrastructure in all way possible.
You may be part of some of the hard-hitting industries which are affected by pandemic, as companies are moving to a modern approach and on the cloud, you may want to dig in and see where it can land you.
When you’re at home, it’s really difficult to focus for a long time and you can easily get distracted by so many things. Your dog or pet is not letting you work, you are constantly in some or other meeting, managing house chores and whatnot.
Don’t overthink it, what’s your Plan here. That idea for what you’ll do if your job goes away, and your industry flatlines? As many companies are laying off people on a large scale, It got me thinking, as we prepare for the next big shift, maybe we shouldn’t be looking for a job just like the one we had. Maybe it’s time to look for something else altogether.
So it’s time to develop a healthy schedule and put some time away to re skill or upskill yourself so that you can align with your company’s expectations or hand out to get well deserving promotion or a salary hike you have been waiting for so long.
A lot more people are starting to see the impact of new technologies in their workplace. And they’re looking for ways to adapt and survive.
After all, it’s at times like these that we all need to join together, remotely, to support our organization and each other in whatever way we can. At the same time, many people have found themselves with more time on their hands and are wondering how they can spend this time productively.
If you’re working on your personal projects, trying to change jobs or planning to switch your career path completely. In any case, you need a dedicated time to focus and journal your goals and vision to make sure it’s turning into a reality.
So the question is how to get yourself started and set your goal in motion.
There are few tips and suggestions that you can apply in your action plan to achieve your goals. It’s from my personal experience and not hard at all to squeeze in your daily routine. Feel free to change or modify according to your need.
Decide on what is your goal and what you want to achieve in the next few months — I like to journal my goals and see the progress from time to time if it’s something I want to continue doing or should I try something else. Start writing your goals, aspirations and who you want to become.
If you’re looking to change jobs, make a list of companies where you like to apply, start applying for open positions and prepare for interviews.
If you’re looking to learn some of the new trending technologies, start with the basics if you have no idea what the heck it is. Make use of your network to get the ball rolling.
If you’re planning to change career path, learn about the industry you want to go, how they are running their business. Start exploring their past 3–5 years of history and trend in the market.
Focus on “one” thing, that will bring you closer to achieving your goals.
Make use of free online courses — The beauty of the internet is, everything is available for free, you just need to look.
There are many educational sites and you can check on YouTube that provide free online courses and tutorials to kick start your learning.
You just need to search for the topics and your learning level and you’re set. You can take a subscription for advanced courses. It won’t cost much and check in your company or with your managers as well. Some of the organizations get free licenses from online learning sites.
Read case studies — There are millions of real time case studies available online, make use of it and learn about processes, strategic thinking, key take away and how it improved the business from the case studies.
It will help you to understand your industry, risks and output. Create your own thought process.
It’s easy to indulge with other people’s thoughts. Be your own voice and learn to find things you are actually passionate about and can help you in your career for a long run.
Follow community groups — It’s a best way to reach out to like minded people, exchange ideas and get to know their experiences, career and life journey. Understand their perspective and learn from it.. Based on your industry or something that you aspire, join the right community and get involved in the conversation there.
Of course you don’t need to follow many communities. Focus on one or two and try to mingle with people and show your complete involvement there so that people can notice you as well.
Subscribe to right news and information — Expand your industry knowledge if you want to move to leadership, follow news where you get to know how leaders take decisions, resolve conflict, learn about forward thinking.
If you want to become a successful writer, follow your favorite writer, blog community and learn from their life journey, experiences.
Consume right amount of news and see how you can apply it in your day to day life.
Sometimes you just need a right inspiration to get going.
Social Media — For me personally, social media is a trap. It’s very easy to get distracted and lose focus. I have been in the same situation many times where I am just passing my time browsing from one social media platform to another. I’m still learning not to get trapped in social media bubble.
Be more self aware of what you’re doing on social media and what you are sharing on various social platforms.
When you are creating content, you’re putting something out into the world. That is the way that people who do not already know you personally can get a better sense of who you are as a person.
What you’re trying to do is give people a lens into your thinking and how you see the world. And when you do that, they get a better sense of your personality and what you might be like to work with.
Take the advantage of social media for your own use and purpose. Find a platform with similar minded people or based on your interest, connect with people and exchange about your career aspirations, ideas, and may be a company where you want to work in future. There is no harm saying a friendly Hello.
Reinvent Yourself — It’s never too late to improve or reinvent yourself or something you have been meaning to say or to do for a long time.
I recently attended a virtual meeting where I met a woman who is a COO of a technology firm. I really enjoyed talking to her and realized we both share the same mindset and thinking. She has been so encouraging and inspiring on so many levels.
The truth is you can reinvent yourself into literally almost anything as long as your runway is long enough. The problem that a lot of people have is that they assume that things have to be an all or nothing proposition.
They assume that, oh, well, I’ve decided I’m not happy in my current career, so obviously, I’m gonna quit my job and then suddenly find another job. In a down economy, it often takes a while to find another job, and it can be very, very hard, especially if you’ve built up a certain level of seniority, to find another job right away at that same income level.
Networking — Yes, networking is important. It does not really depend on the number of followers you have or how many connections you have if you can’t reach out to them.
Find people you actually connect with and share ideas, belief and open for new ideas as well.
Build your network with honesty and oftentimes, people underestimate their own ability to be the host of something. Built a strong and sustainable network.
That’s the key to making yourself available and open to new roles and opportunities. Virtual gathering you can arrange for a starter. You just need to tap the right opportunity. Participating in these kinds of activities is very useful. Start with hosting a virtual meeting. It’s not as hard as you think.
Take the time and if you feel discontent with your current position, work or anything in your life, look for options for what actually you want to do.
Ask a few key questions to yourself, why you want to change jobs, where do you see yourself if you quit your job, how you are going to reinvent yourself, what technology you want to learn, if you do this, how is it going to help you in your next chapter of life.
Note down the answers and you know exactly where to start from.
You can start with volunteering on some board, do a charity job, shadow some job for a day to two to see what you see yourself working there. So when you really need to make a shift, you’re actually ready.
It’s important to establish a sense of routine when you’re working from home or self-isolating. So, try to incorporate your own learning and development into that routine.
Try to put aside 30 minutes a day to help you self-improve in some way.
Be your authentic self! The pandemic has made that hard, as we’re sitting in Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting and maybe only showing our personalities with our backgrounds.
Bring your authentic self to work. Every part of who you are. What makes you unique. Please, accept and respect all people for who they are, support one another’s ideas, encourage creativity, build knowledge, and be passionate.
To be honest, there is no hard and fast or a magic pill that can change things overnight.
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
I hope these points and tips going to help you to achieve your goals or whatever you aspire to be. Start with one thing and see how it’s making a difference in your life over all. Once you start seeing the changes, you are definitely getting ready to make big changes.
Share your thoughts with me and let’s keep on inspiring each other. In this crisis, we are together and ready to make a big shift.
Be Bold
Be Courageous
Be Your Best