Happy St. Patrick’s Day (and happy birthday to my sister too)!
Yesterday I spoke about going from good to great and the key takeaway was that you need to be an all-rounder in what you do not just have strengths in a single discipline or attribute.
I used golf as an analogy, today I wanted to continue with something that will hopefully hit it home.
What if your skill becomes defunct?
What if you put in all the hard work and then find that after 20 years your skill is no longer required?
An example – a Fax machine repair person is probably not in high demand right now?
Neither would a VHS repair person be either!
Scary right?
No; it shouldn’t be. You see not only are there jobs that are becoming defunct but there are jobs that don’t even exist yet!
Rewind 30 years – Did you know we would require Cyber Security Specialists? What about 4G or even 2G technicians for cell phone aerials?
The message here is not to chose a career or learn a skill that is guaranteed forever (sorry but there isn’t one anyway). The message is to be the best at what you are the best at.
If you are a salesperson – then you can and should be able to sell anything. It is not the product that the customers are buying from you – it is how you sell it to them that closes the deal.
So by learning all the skills and techniques that will help you be the best sales person you can be, you will never be defunct, the products and services you selling maybe, but not you.
So to answer the question above, your skill will never become defunct, the way or on what you apply it to may and possibly could though, but not the actual skill itself.
Lets go back to the VHS and Fax example.
A technician who understands circuitry and can read instructions, with a bit of training would be able to fix devices such as a Playstation 5.
It is not the product, it’s the skill of working on the electronic components.
So, invest in yourself and that which you do. Read, learn, consume and attend.
Be better than the best version of yourself and there will always be a place in the workforce for you.
Speaking of attending – if you are in Sydney – I will be presenting at the SMB Digital event in Sydney at the ICC on the 30th March 2022 – get your free tickets here: https://www.smb-digital.com.au/tickets
BL
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