Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter. Every two weeks I share about what impactful leadership looks like to show you how powerful you are. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.
Hey,
Today, as we stand at the cusp of a new year, is our annual reminder that time has come to move on from 2020 and prepare ourselves for the changes coming. Here are a few things I do each year to step into the new year on my own terms :-
1. Complete The Previous Year (2020)
- Introspect your goals (if any) at the start of the year and make peace with where you are now.
- Celebrate your achievements (big and small) and laugh about your failures (missed opportunities)
- Reflect upon what you have learned, and how you have changed or grown over the year.
- Free your mind from the grip of the difficult people and hard situations you have encountered this year.
- Apologize if you realize you have been a difficult person in someone else’s life.
- Give up any blame, regret or shame gathered this year. There will be new to collect in 2021
- Thank and express gratitude to everyone who has made a difference in your life
2. Know Yourself
- What are your deepest motivations? What have you always wanted to do?
- What are you really passionate about? Is there something worth devoting your life to?
- What drives your actions and decisions? What are the values you hold most dearly?
- What makes you really happy or angry?
- Who are your biggest inspirations in life, and who are the people you can’t stand? Why?
3. Where do you want to be in the next 5 or 10 years?
This might seem too far ahead in the future, but it doesn’t take long for these years to roll by. Just think about how quickly the last 10 years have passed by.
Imagining your own future can feel a bit strange and uncomfortable at first, but soon it will become a lot of fun – just like a game. Do not let this question overwhelm you (which it can), and instead, play it like a game and see what you come up with.
4. Decide milestones or checkpoints on the way
Make sure to be clear about what you want to achieve, when and where you will achieve that and with whom. The more numbers you can use the better this step will be in its fruitfulness, and it is best to avoid vague words like soon, sometime, in a few weeks, improvement, better, more, etc.
With the above four steps, you can step into the new year and make a powerful “start“. Knowing where you want to go is always better than hoping to get “somewhere” by default.
Reply to this email right now if it sparked something, or if you want to take the conversation ahead?
Articles and Stories Which Have Fascinated Me
One
7 Essential Work Skills For The 2020s And 2030s
Our world is changing fast, with new technologies and ways of doing business. So much has changed since 2000 – and the next 20 years will be no different. The coronavirus pandemic has already accelerated this change. People will need to adapt to this constantly changing landscape to stay relevant and perform well.
Below are 7 workplace skills everyone will need in in the future – the 2020s and beyond that.
1. Multi-Disciplinary Thinking
2. Emotional Intelligence
3. Creative, Out-of-the-Box Thinking
4. Logical and Data-Driven Reasoning
5. Virtual Collaboration
6. Designing a Holistic Environment That Promotes Wellbeing
7. Having a Voice
From 7 Essential Work Skills For The Future – An Article From My Desk
Two
Write a Resume that Tells Your Story
A great resume tells your career story. It will take you where you want to go, not just say where you’ve been.
If you take a storytelling approach to reflecting on your experience before you craft a document, you will unlock a more interesting and comprehensive version of your experience.
Your career, like a plot, is made up of a series of events. You’ll start to see how the story comes together once you consider the relationship between the events, the characters who helped shape them, and the setting that influenced why things transpired the way they did.
Simply saying you have a growth mindset or are a life-long learner is not enough! Take the opportunity to show with a story what you have to offer rather than just telling them.
From Write a Resume that Tells Your Story
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, just hit reply. All the best,
Sumit
(Twitter) @SumitGupta
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