The Millennial Career Dilemma Series – Article 22; By Shubika Bilkha
In today’s world it has become virtually impossible to turn on a screen, scroll through the newsfeed, read a newspaper/blog or even check out a meme, without being told how important it is for us to look inwards. It now appears that everything from finding true love to looking fit to taking a vacation or even looking for a job or career seems to be intertwined with the act of getting in sync with our ‘inner being’.
As advisors would let us know, the key ingredient to a perfectly fulfilled, balanced and successful life is living in alignment with our life purpose. Ancient philosophies, guided retreats, the proliferation of spiritual classes, meditation and chanting, seems to echo this sentiment. There is a global movement nowthat seems completely dedicated to helping us all ‘find ourselves’.
As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s in India, where concepts of success, achievement, exceeding expectations and following the pre-determined path took precedence over more intrinsic notions of happiness, I have often struggled myself with the journey of self-discovery. In my work as a millennial coach, I see my clients face similar challenges as they navigate the world of inward discovery for their careers and lives. While they agree that the answers lie within, they often struggle much as I did initially with how does one even dig deep? And what benefit could it possibly have in an ever evolving competitive world?
Over the weekend I read the much talked about best seller by Brene Brown titled The Gifts of Imperfection that is a guide that serves to advise us on how to lead a wholehearted life by embracing ourselves as we are and not as we are supposed to be. In the book, she discovers that men and women who did live wholeheartedly were the ones who indeed were able to #DigDeep.
The book provides an interesting framework that I thought would be useful for some of us who continue to struggle with the concept of digging deep. She defines the DIG as:
D- Deliberate thoughts and behaviors
I-Inspired to make new and different choices
G- Going to take action
For the millennial career seeker looking inwards to find that ideal job role, entrepreneurial opportunity or even navigate their existing career for maximum success, some ways to apply the DIG framework to go deep could be as follows:
Observe
Observe your thoughts and behaviours to understand what’s working well, what would you like to see more of, what needs to go, and how could you upgrade to get to your goal
Take advantage
Take advantage of the world of information overload to be inspired by people, activities, causes and impact. Connect those sources of inspiration to your current world of work or job-seeking or being bootstrapped to enhance your output, find new opportunities, think out of the boxand get re-inspired. Sometimes a perspective change is the boost we need.
Be Resilient
In a world of exponential growth and change, being resilient and flexible will be a key determinant to survival and success. Resilience is important in helping us find the next big thing for ourselves and our organizations.
Be Proactive
In this disruptive world being commercially aware, taking charge and showing initiative will be key to differentiate yourself.
Take responsibility
Take responsibility for your career growth and actions. Remember, this is entirely on you!
For more information on Edpower-U’s Career Coaching and Workplace skill building programs please write in to enquiry@edpoweru.com.
About the Author
Shubika is currently the Founding Partner of Edpower-U. She is a dynamic entrepreneur, trained executive coach, media spokesperson, author and corporate advisor with experience that spansthe financial, technology, ecommerce, education and real estate sectors in India and Internationally. As the managing Director of two early stage start-ups in technology and education, Shubika has hands on experience in all aspects of these businesses. She was recently the Managing Director of a leading vocational training institute in India and has worked with a number of leaders across industry, government and the educational ecosystem in India and the UK.
She is also a published author with her first book widely distributed. Shubika is an alumna of Mount Holyoke College, USA and Columbia Business School, USA; an Associate Member of the Chartered Securities Institute (CSI) in the UK; and has completed the “Building Excellence in Higher Educational Institutions” at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. She is a trained Executive Coach with CTI, UK in line with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) ACC guidelines.