Futureproofing Yourself

***Want to get your hands on the document? Download it here….***

What is “career futureproofing…?”

Much like literacy was a care skill for driving 19th century industrialization, career literacy — “futureproofing” — is a core skill for success in the 21st century working world

It’s the ability to purposefully and elegantly navigate around career disruptions like layoffs, organizational restructurings, role changes, new technologies, etc.;
It’s proactively identifying evolving career opportunities (potential internal moves, different organizations, side hustles, part-time gigs, freelance projects);
It’s successfully developing and landing the most meaningful opportunities.

In the following short (10 minutes or less) videos, you’ll walk through each of the steps in the seven-step process for futureproofing yourself. (You can download the accompanying written document here)

INTRODUCTION: Futureproof yourself, challenging times ahead.

Why do we need to futureproof ourselves? What is happening in the broader environment around that makes this critical? And what does it really mean? This intro video takes you through the rationale and overview of the process steps involved.

Step 1: Commit 5% of your time to building your own platform.

Step 1 — taking full, unfettered ownership of your own career development. Here’s how to think that through and turn it into actionable bites.

Step 2: Develop, monitor, and maintain your weekly heartbeat.

Step 2 — building a regular rhythm to your focus and productivity is key to getting your important work done and not be distracted. Adopt a weekly heartbeat to do this.

Step 3: Develop you most “compelling, highest value story”.

Step 3 — it’s not about being busy. It’s about getting busy doing the work you really embrace and that is meaningful and purpose-infused for you. Here’s how you figure that out.

Step 4: Practice sharing your story. Practice networking.

Step 4 — you know how and where you find purpose and add value. Now get out there in both the real and virtual worlds and engaging people to find those opportunities where you shine!

Step 5: Be curious. Ask questions. Explore your world.

Step 5 — from your “wheelhouse” perch, you can see more clearly the emerging trends around you. Stay curious and experiment and you’ll increase your own value and skills.

Step 6: Build and manage your opportunity pipeline.

Step 6 — all that networking and curiosity delivers a lot of opportunities to progress. You need a lightweight and effective method for staying on top. This is your pipeline.

Step 7: Find and join a supportive, encouraging community.

Step 7 — “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. Success is a marathon and you want to have a supportive, encouraging community of peers that you can learn and grow with. Accessing that is the final step in your futureproofing process.

Step 8: Take Action. Now.

It’s not enough just to read the document, or watch the videos. From those you know WHAT you need to do — the tough part is going from the knowing-phase to the action-phase.… actually moving to action to put what you now KNOW about futureproofing into practice for yourself — SO YOU CAN MOVE YOUR OWN GAME FORWARD.

Here’s two options: First, explore the Free Agent Bootcamp — an eight-week intensive, fully virtual reinvention process that will take you through the all-important Steps 3 through 6 of the futureproofing process. Second, if you’re looking for community (Step 7 of the futureproof process) that encourages you while holding your feet to the fire and helps you develop into a more successful business person, check out the Free Agent Collective. Join a group of like-minded professionals that will help you grow and prosper.