By Sikiru Salami 

In the normal course of our career journeys, we all may get bored at some point. By this, I mean, we might get disoriented or completely disconnected in what we’ve always loved doing. Life happens. Career failure happens. Job loss happens. Sickness happens. Business failure happens. Marital upheaval happens. Events beyond our control could sometimes make a mess of a luxuriant career future we’ve always dreamt of. If you’re in the early stage of your career or still in school, my message today might not make much sense to you. But be prepared. Life happens. Unpleasant surprises happen.

To survive and remain relevant in the scheme of things, we all need to rejig things and reinvent key elements of our lives regularly. We all need some tough change process; else we remain stuck in self-pity and end up blaming everyone and everything for what we have capacity to change. Terrible memories, bad habits, bad experiences, toxic relationships, fixed mindsets, old work templates and methods are some of the feathers we often need to pluck off our lives, to make progress.

In order to make a pathway forward, we sometime need to let go of past hurts, age-long enemies, familial hatred, limiting beliefs, foolish superstitions cloaked in the garb of “our culture”, fear of ‘village people’ etc. We must be open to learn new things; pursue new opportunities and deepen our networks.

Now speaking to the specifics, I would offer few learning points as follows:

First. Always Stay Ahead of the Curve

We all pursue career in different fields, either by choice or circumstances. We also always make efforts to get to the peak of career in specific fields. Like I once alluded to in past sessions, it is a must, and a matter of honour to be deeply good in at least one area of learning. You can either be a Generalist or Specialist, no doubt. But you have to be deeply good at whatsoever you do. It doesn’t matter if it’s what you choose to do, or what life offers you. Just be the best at it.

I understand that the business world today is a rat-race. There’s that latent impatience on the part of millennials. Impatience to keep a job or run a particular business for too long, unlike our forbears. We’ve got that innate desire to regularly taste stew in new roles and work environments, and that strong wish to earn bigger pay cheques at every turn. We get bored easily. We lose interest in things easily. We get distracted easily. But I reckon that there’s a way to keeping a job for long without losing interest, or feeling old at it. There’s a way to never be taken for granted at work. There’s a way to never be seen as old-hand at work. Here it is. Get ahead of the Curve.

Be the first to learn of new developments or trends in your field. If you’re a trader, keep tab of the recent editions of what you sell. If you’re a Finance person, keep close tab of the recent accounting standards, tax circulars, emerging financial models etc. If you’re a Medical Doctor, read journals and attend seminars on new medical breakthroughs. If you’re an IT person, be the first to learn of new exotic hardware and programming tools. If you’re an Engineer, don’t feel cocooned to syllabus you were taught with. Be among the first to learn of new engineering miracles.

It is fine to age physically and spend long years doing the same thing, but your skill must remain deeply ingrained, genuine, fresh and updated. Don’t be fooled. Doing the same thing repeatedly for 10 years doesn’t necessarily make you more experienced than someone with 5 years of diverse and updated skillset and competences. Stay ahead of the curve. Stop celebrating archaic skills and working methods. Stay ahead of the game. Don’t wait to be caught unawares. The world will not wait for you.

Second. Diversify your Areas of Interest

Humans have endless capacity to take up multiple roles. It is very possible to pursue career in two or more unrelated fields simultaneously. You can be a Medical Doctor, Pilot and Finance expert at the same. It is possible. This young lady, Dr. Ola Orekunrin-Brown @Naijaflyingdr on Twitter, is a good example. Outside our core areas of competences, we have certain unique talents we’re blessed with. You can be Laboratory Scientist, and still be one of the most sought-after emcees (MCs) around. You can be an Engineer, still be a great school administrator. You can be a trained pilot, still be an amazing cook. You can be a successful accountant, and yet an amazing fashion designer. Don’t get it twisted. This has nothing to do with that oft-quoted jack-of-all-trade talk. There are living examples, and there’s nothing out of the world about them. They just make the best use of themselves.

We were not created to be of binary minds. I generally encourage people to take up interest in something else outside their areas of expertise. Someday, your primary profession might fail you. It’s those secondary areas of interest that would serve as your back-up. A former Bank MD lost his bank and his entire banking career. But you know what? He now runs one of the most successful shopping malls around. Unleash your other talents or areas of interest and commercialize same when need be. Life happens. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Third. Get out of your Cocoon, sometimes

This might not make sense to many people. I do believe that even if you work for Google, Microsoft, JP Morgan or any of the great companies in the world don’t be too comfortable. It doesn’t matter if your employer rarely lays off or sacks employees. Life happens. Go out sometimes and attend job interviews. Do honour invites for job interviews sometimes, not because you need the job, but at least to test your market credibility. You go out to assess your continued market acceptability and employability potentials. You might even want to do so, simply to re-price yourself, and provide new basis for negotiation with your current employer. Don’t be too sure. How you used to craft your CV or respond to certain interview questions might no longer be in vogue.

Life happens. I have seen people lose their prized jobs with some of the best companies around. Five years after, they are still struggling to reestablish themselves. Don’t be too sure. No employee is indispensable. When economic decision requires that you be let go of your job, no amount of emotional considerations or blackmail can save you. Life happens. Don’t be caught unawares.

By Sikiru Salami 

In this piece, I want to share few things with us on the need to always pay as much attention to the substance in our life decisions and actions, as we do to our reputation, public perception and optics. Speaking of portraying great view and optics out there, we call it ‘packaging’. And in truth, there is nothing bad about it, technically. But in a more philosophical sense, it’s often said, “focus on your character, and let your reputation take care of itself”

Admittedly we are in an age where perception is everything. It’s now all about maintaining good optics, brand and reputation largely from the viewpoint of judgmental third parties. It is also sadly an age of “faking it till you make it”. We seemingly now pay far less attention to the substance and much more on how good or cool people feel about who we are or what we do. Many people are now slaves of “what will people say?”. Many have been forced to build reputation, not defined by any enduring legacies, but on nothingness. Zero substance.

Everything today also is a game of NOW. Short term benefit takes precedence over long term and more enduring benefits. Social media addiction is the new scourge. Short attention-span on important things is a symptom. Social media contents we consume daily have ways of reshaping and redefining, either for good or bad, our values, and possibly our future. A good simple (and perhaps petty) case in point is this. If you can maintain focus, reading a book for an hour without distraction, maybe you’re an exception, and a lucky one. If you’re deeply focused on doing great things, not minding if anyone acknowledges or validates your efforts online, then, you’re possibly among the lucky few. We’re all caught up in that rat-race.

Now going into the specifics, let’s look at the following points:

One. Pay the Price before Claiming the Prize

Greatness takes time, and excruciating sacrifice. Temporal public accolade on account of baby-step successes doesn’t translate to an enduring glory. Being a great scholar requires some long and painful intellectual exertions, and unending studies and researches. Becoming a good professional (of world-class status) takes years of book-facing (not facebooking) and learning under the tutelage of senior colleagues at work. It sometimes requires patience working with crazy teammates and enduring the unreasonable demands of tough (or rude) bosses. Becoming a successful business leader or entrepreneur goes beyond word of mouth. It sometimes takes years of trial and error, failures, cries, pains, starting-overs, and never giving ups.

My point is this. Be very clear about what you want. Go out there and pay the price. Don’t claim to be a Doctor when you’re just an auxiliary employee in a hospital, even if you think you know everything about medicine. Except you have the requisite certifications and field experience, don’t lay claim to be a ‘world-class’ Engineer. Being a pharmacy store owner doesn’t make you a Pharmacist. Don’t claim to be a CEO on LinkedIn, when you have never run a successful business. It’s my humble advice. Walk before you run. Pay the price before claiming the prize.

Two. Self-regulate

Social media use can be distracting, quite frankly. Social media platforms however, have today become a significant part of our daily lives. To deny their usefulness, is to be living in fool’s paradise. There are multi-billionaire Dollar corporations whose entire businesses are tied to social media. And if you have younger ones or kids under your care, you sure don’t want to play I-don’t-care-attitude towards social media. These platforms can make or mar one’s future, depending on what we make of them, and how we use same.

My point is this. You should very deliberate about your choice of social media platform; whom you follow; what time you spend thereon, and for what purpose.

Three. Run your Race. Define your Pace

Lifestyles most people portray online don’t necessarily reflect their realities. The fact that your course-mate, old friend or younger colleague takes pictures in a big mansion doesn’t mean that s/he owns it. Let’s even agree that s/he owns whatsoever claimed. So what?

My point is this. Don’t envy anyone. Don’t seek anyone’s downfall. Celebrate people’s claimed successes, if you can, but face your race. Define your pace. Define your goals. Pay the price. Depend on God for positive outcome. And smile often, please.

Four. Tell your story

If you are doing great things, touching lives, please tell your story. By all means, project and promote your work, if you need to. It’s very fine. No one else can tell a better story of great things you’re doing than yourself. Even if possible, hire consultants to help promote your work and personal brand. It’s also very fine to keep mute and let your work do the talking.

Once again, tell your story. Be visible. But, don’t tell a story before doing the work. If you must tell a good story; do the work first. Don’t make false claims. If you have no business with the United Nations, don’t claim to be UN Youth Ambassador or whatever.

Here is my point. Tell story of great things you’re doing, to inspire others, and for information purpose, not for public accolades or social media stats, of course except you’re a Digital Marketer. Don’t let social media likes, ‘shares’, followership, comments or lack thereof, define your happiness. I say this, in the interest of your sanity.

I do believe, have made some sense here. What do you think?