Thriving in the Age of Professional Disruption
From The Wellness Ethic:
Managing a career is easy, right? You just land a job that pays well, develop your skills as you go, and find ways to make work satisfying.
But don’t forget that it would be awesome to do a job you love that aligns with your life purpose … And you want to accomplish meaningful stuff … And live a balanced life … And not be flattened by disruption …
I can’t believe you fell into my trap! No, this career stuff ain’t easy! It wasn’t even easy five hundred years ago! In the 1500s, you would have dealt with wagonloads of disruption as you tried to eke out a living. I’ll list a few sixteenth-century disruptors in case you yearn for simpler times: the bubonic plague, wars, witch hunts, famines, the Americas, smallpox, the Religious Reformation—hold on, I’m just getting warmed up!
Managing a career in the twenty-first century is challenging because your professional life is an unpredictable, ever-evolving journey that’s prone to disruption. There’s that “D” word again—disruption. Disruption is fracturing our professional bedrock, whether it’s from AI, intense competition, economic recessions, globalization, the gig economy, geopolitical forces, climate change, pandemics, and countless other disruptors.
Though you can’t always predict how or when disruption will occur, you can still position yourself for the best outcome—that’s what you can control.
To exert more control over your professional destiny, act upon these six principles for Thriving in the Age of Professional Disruption:
Know the professional you. The more you’re intimate with what satisfies you professionally, the better you can steer your career in a rewarding direction. Consider: What is your life purpose? What are your professional values? What are your superpowers? What do you love to do? What do you want to avoid? What career outcomes are important to you? The answers to these questions serve as your professional compass to help you chart a fulfilling career path.
Nurture a productive mindset. In a disruptive climate, your happiness is at risk as your career can seem like it’s targeted by a sledgehammer in a game of whack-a-job. But negativity stymies growth and greatly diminishes your chances of success. Conversely, a productive mindset creates positive energy. You become happier and more motivated to meet the disruptive moment. Nurture a mindset that embraces growth, positivity, flexibility, resilience, and taking proactive action.
Take care of business today. Having professional objectives and a plan to get there is good. But first things first: Take care of business today by ensuring you’re fully engaged in your current job and making an impact. Your job performance influences your job security, pay, professional growth, the respect you have within your network (which can lead to opportunities), and even your happiness. Though it’s never a perfect science—life isn’t always fair—people who make the greatest impact in their job tend to get rewarded more than those who deliver less.
Cultivate your network. A diverse and supportive network can help you deepen your knowledge about your profession and what the future may hold. It can open your mind to possibilities beyond your current career path. Your network can also be a sounding board, provide mentorship, lend support, offer exposure, and refer job leads. When you branch out and interact with other professionals, your horizons expand. Not only does a network contribute to your career prospects, but the camaraderie can be one of the most fun and fulfilling aspects of your professional life.
Be forward thinking. What will your profession look like in the future? Which disruption-friendly career paths align with what you love to do, even if they represent career shifts? To expand your knowledge of the future, you can conduct online research, ask people in your company and network for their perspectives, read books, listen to podcasts, and utilize other resources. At this exploratory stage, it’s critical that you nurture a productive mindset. Don’t let limiting beliefs close your mind or crush your enthusiasm. You can always develop new skills. You have unlimited capabilities and potential. Career pivots are always possible. These aren’t just hollow words in a paragraph in a blog—they represent your truth.
Take action to position for tomorrow. To succeed in your career, it’s essential to embrace the dual focus of work: getting your job done well today while you position yourself for a rewarding tomorrow. Keeping those balls up in the air requires an intentional approach. To pursue a disruption-friendly career path, what can you do today, next week, next month, and beyond to position yourself for success? A primary focus of your plan will likely be a learning strategy shaped by your growth mindset. In a disruptive world, continuous learning is how you surf the wave of change. Build skills that will be in demand as disruption occurs.
A career will challenge you (you wouldn’t want it any other way). It will be unpredictable. There will be ups and downs. Stupid things will happen. But through it all, keep your eye on the prize: You want to be satisfied in everything you do, including your professional pursuits. By doing so, you will have honored your values and life purpose. You will have nurtured the wonderful gift of your existence. You will thrive.
