Future Proof Yourself

It is a great question to ask yourself on a regular basis, ‘So What’s Next?’ It is naturally important to enjoy the moment in terms of what you have done and achieved, celebrate the success, review what have your learnt and what you could have done better. Always be improving and delivering great value. Then If you want to stay up to date and ahead of the game Ask yourself the question, ‘So What’s Next?’, we can’t stand still too long. Procrastination isn’t ever answer,  ‘So, What’s Next?’ Try it on yourself, in meetings at work, with your clients. Get people thinking, generating ideas, bouncing thoughts around. You cannot stand still. ‘So, What’s Next?’ Enjoy the Journey.  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

What other niceties or luxuries do you like to invest in? or perhaps you class them as essentials? So, what would happen in the future if you couldn’t earn enough money to have these things? So how do you pay for them now? I guess your salary.  How do you earn money? By being of value to the company that you work for or to your clients if you run your own business or that you are self-employed. So the challenge is in this every changing world is how do we stay one step ahead of the game with our skills and knowledge so people want to continue to pay us. Welcome to Future Proofing Yourself which will help you to stay relevant and value for the rest of your working career, so people want to employ you and benefit from your skills. By being confident and competent in your abilities you can continue to enjoy those important things in life and keep watching your favourite programmes. Contact and join me on the Future Proofing Journey  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

How To Set a Contact with Yourself Future Proof Yourself by Setting a Contract with Yourself Since the early age of 15 I decided to set a contract with myself in terms of my future career. I was still at school but started playing men’s football on Saturday’s afternoons and Sunday Mornings. I loved it so much that I promised I would never work weekends because of my love of playing football So for money I did a paper round and cut grass in the evening in the summer, so I could free up my weekends. Today is no different, I have been running my own business for over 21 years and I very, very rarely work weekends as I love my cycling and golf and walking with my wife. Yes I work long hours at the start of the week, early mornings and some late evenings but my contract is to keep David fit and fresh so no work at the weekends and no emails or messaging at silly hours. So what is your contract with yourself? Answering message and emails late at night and weekends? Saying yes to everything even if you know its going to eat into all you own time? Now if you are on a career bender and happy to work all hours and you love it and you are on a mission, well crack on, other wise thing about setting a contract with yourself. My wife was very naughtily doing some emails on a Sunday afternoon. She said, look at this, an email had been sent to over 200 people in her business, and with-in one hour 40 people had replied to the email and CC everyone else saying ‘this doesn’t apply to us’ has the world gone mad. Emails and messaging on holiday set yourself a contract one hour every two days if you really can’t not be contactable. Think when you get to your retirement age do you want to look back and say I am glad I spent so much time at work and not take all my holiday entitlement.  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

How to Demonstrate Managerial Courage – Have You Got What it Takes  There comes a time as you take on management responsibility that you have to stop looking at others to provide the answer and others to be the leader. It is now down to you. Yes you, you have the title now for some action and leadership.  Two very important questions to ask yourself are; If it were your business, what would you do? If it were your business and money, would you employ the people that work for you?  You now need to think about making key decisions, think about if your area of the business was outsourced and you won the contract with your current team what would you do to keep your new business going to be profitable and effective and a good ROI.  Start to think about treating your directors as clients and showing real value by understanding the future needs of the business plus the commercials and how you and your team will contribute and be an excellent ROI. Now’s the time to step up and show Managerial Courage, come out of your comfort zone and contribute not just passive participation. Build a good network to support you, get a mentor / coach and accept any offer of the business to develop you with training and coaching.  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

How to Ask Really Great Questions. I have always used the phrase in Business ‘Ask Great Questions and then do something Equally Great with the Answers’. Whether you are in sales, A Manager, A consultancy, Architect, Production or Finance or, any other roles ask great questions and be inquisitive.  

The people who ask the best questions, get the best information and there for can create the best ideas and solutions . It’s a Win /Win as people always love it when you show an interest in them by asking questions and being inquisitive.  

So what questions should we ask well there are six simple words: What, Why, When, Where, Who, How  You just need to put these on your vocabulary and off you go, practice them and use them well. You find out so much more and people love it as it shows you are interested in them, as I say Win / Win.  

So what great questions should you be asking?  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

Ever have that feeling that you are being left behind? The business environment is moving quicker than ever before. There is hardly a concept that can’t be turned into a business just look at the sponsored adds on social media. I noticed one to turn young children’s nursery paintings in to framed master pieces. Plus, there is hardly a business that isn’t looking over its shoulder and thinking what will our market look like in the next few years and what will our jobs and business look like.  So, if you are feeling a little out of your depth and insecure about your future. Now is the time to act to Future Proof Yourself so you can stay relevant and of value for the rest of your career. No time to wait just look at what has happened in the last twelve months.  

Let’s set up a call and discuss your next steps of your Future Proofing Journey. Details of my New Future Proofing Coaching programme can be found on my website 

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

I know it is obvious, but it is really good advice. Whatever your chosen route is be very good at it.  What do you need to learn, study, get advice on or practice. Now there is a word ‘practice’. There is a great saying in sport. Why do amateurs play more than they practice and why do professional’s practice more than they play? It’s a really interesting concept that we all need to think about, could I be better at what I do if I practiced my talents more often?   If you have to negotiate a lot in your work: Practice; 1. Asking great questions 2. Listening 3. Being present 4. The art of silence 5. Keeping calm 6. reading body language and being aware of your own 7. your product/ industry knowledge 8. packaging deals 9. reaching agreement  So, what do you need to practice? Need any help please get in touch.  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

It’s Tough Out There - You don’t say David! But, and it’s a big but, I have a plan, I am organised, Self - motivated, Thinking differently, Working hard to make it happen, Focused on what i can control. I love these words and have used them for many years in running my business.  

This video I will look at what these words really mean and how to enable you to Future Proof Yourself  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

How to find your niche, this is a hot topic in deciding what you want to do in your career or if you are thinking about setting up a business.  Well I would encourage you not to go to narrow and worry about your niche at the start unless it’s completely obvious, Your Niche will find you if;  But how will my niche find me? And how will I find my niche?  Well I think there are four questions to explore. 

1. Catch yourself talking with enthusiasm and passion that makes you excited and energies you. What are you naturally good at

Then you can decide is your niche right for you and are you right for your niche?  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF

Rocks in a Jar – Focus on the important things in life. This jar resembles your life – what can you get into the jar what can you get into your life? This is my adaptation of the famous rocks in a jar attributed to a unknown university lecturer.  Now lets look at this jar and these golf balls – the golf balls represent what is really important to you? Your family  Your friends Your Health and well-being Your faith and beliefs Your life passions  Plan into your life the things that are really important to you first otherwise they will get left out as we put small things into our life.  The small jar or stones represent all the daily hustle and bustle that can just fill up our time, these are still important but not as important as the big stuff, housework, chores, our work, shopping, materialistic things.  Now the sand represents everything else that can steal our time Social media, interruptions from others, poor planning, sat in traffic, emails, pointless conversations or badly directed energy on something you can’t control.  As you can see the jar is now very full, but if you put things into your life the right way round you can fit more in, what would have happened if you had put the sand in first, then the small stones, there would have been no room for the golf balls that represent the really important things?  But remember when you do have a very full life you always need to find time to have a drink with people who are really important to you.  

FUTURE PROOF YOURSELF