The Independence Day of our country is right around the corner! Time and again we are reminded of the sacrifices our freedom fighters have made and how indebted we are to them, when we take a look around and see where we stand as a country after all these years. Have we looked within and tried to cultivate a state of freedom in our own thinking and actions?
Hereby we take a look at some aspects where an independence of thought and a freedom from the shackles of conformity is a must if we want to make the best of our careers. Let us take a look!
Independence in Thinking About our Career-Values:
Often, we find ourselves being confronted by key decisions…of other people. When a long-time co-worker leaves their job, we find ourselves wondering if it’s time for us to leave as well. When we see a colleague take up a new side-venture, we wonder if we should do it too. In other words, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of comparison and put ourselves through unnecessary rethinking. There is a fine line between wanting a change in one’s path and wanting a change in one’s path because someone made you feel so.
A keen sense of self-awareness about one’s own career path is necessary to make sure we make the right decisions, independently, keeping our own situation, our aspirations and our own dreams in mind. An independence in thinking about what works well for our life and career is necessary to stay on the right path so we don’t end up projecting the situation and aspirations of someone else onto ours.
This brings us to a related but nevertheless an important point.
Independence in Thinking About our Values:
Everyone wants different things from their jobs. Some of us might crave for some structural stability, while others are looking for an outlet for their creativity, while some are looking to channelise their need to uplift and inspire people. A person might be looking for autonomy, fulfilling intellectual work, fast-pace and new challenges. Another person might be looking for stability, security, steadiness and routine work.
What gives the other person contentment might leave another feeling stuck. It is thus necessary to think about our own individual values, independent of what others decide for themselves and what countless success-stories of others might tell us.
One too many of us often under-utilise our potential, change paths unnecessarily or stay at the same place wondering why we are unhappy because of not thinking about what we really want from our work.
Independence in Initiative:
We often let factors like office politics, prejudices and biases of others, our own assumptions about people, our mental-sets about our own capacities come in the way of taking efficient initiatives within the workplace environment. The latter point deserves some more explanation. A senior member might have the mental-set that they can’t learn anything new and that technology is difficult to master when in reality, it’s a fast- growing learning curve. A younger person might feel the interviewers on the panel are out to bully their lack of experience and go in the interview already under-confident when in reality, they are testing how fresh their ideas are. A person in the middle of their career might feel like their opportunities have dried up and it’s no use learning or undertaking anything new, when in reality their wisdom and humility are much needed qualities.
While communicating with client and colleagues, we often let the established biases, prejudices and assumptions come in the way, stopping us from trying our best, thinking ‘It has always been like this…’, when in reality, a little independence in thought, a little unshackling can lead us to think, ‘Yes, it has always been like this, but have we tried to…’
It is about trying out an innovation without waiting for someone else to bring it up.
It is about understanding the shackles that bind our thinking in the form of hearsay, unsaid conventions and outdated beliefs and cultivating that independence in trying to look beyond them.
Thus, this Independence Day, let us free ourselves from habits and thought patterns that prevent us from being the best version of ourselves and making our office environment a better place. Team UHR wishes everyone a very happy Independence Day!