Choose direction over distance! Those were the words of wisdom from Anand Pillai when I asked him what he wants to see young HR professionals do!
That rings totally true to me. Not just for young professionals but generally speaking you can see people often get caught up in complacency. The complacency of not knowing or not wanting to know how competitive the world outside is. They choose to get things achieved in struggle free environment and don’t want to put some extra effort in making things happen in a different way than was done before.
Now let me ask you how often have you asked for advices and suggestions on how to do a new project that is assigned to you even before you at least have a try from your end! If you do everything the way that has been done by somebodyelse before you then how can you hone the skills and capabilities in you?
In Anand Pillai’s words –
“Move outside of your comfort zone where you are forced to stretch where you are forced to think beyond the ordinary. When you are exhausted on known options how do you explore and work on new options. Don’t look for the easy or clear path, but blaze your own trail. Do things which require to you to stretch on a day to day basis because that will enhance your capability. Then at the end of it you can proudly say that have got 15 years of rich experience rather than 1 year of experience multiplied 15 times. True leadership comes in the courage zone and not in the comfort zone”
The sense of complacency is high among those professionals that just want to continue their job, just safe enough to get their pay check without any complications. They don’t dare to take any hard tasks, not even wanting to put themselves in tough situations. Wherein every day they do the same job again and again without any urge to explore challenges and learn from it. How long can you live in your own little world without experiencing any real competitiveness? How can you realize your true potential without ever pushing it to the limits and beyond?
One has to try to move out of one’s complacency and summon courage to take some risks and learn lessons in doing challenging tasks that one has never done before. That is going to give you the most valuable knowledge and experience that can’t be bought from anybody and can make you feel extraordinary!
It is not ‘How long’ that matters; it is ‘What you did and how it shaped you’ that matters! So go on and build what really matters in your career!
