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Job? No, it's a `super hobby'
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If burnout is your secret fear, you can be rid of it. DR K SANKARAN tells you how
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The most incurable optimist knows that the job scene isn't going to be as stable as it has been.
It is cliche to say that the future is going to be different. But this fact can never be overstated. One of the most common problems today is job-induced anxiety. Psychiatrists say that a very common patient group they come across is that of young careerists. The young ambitious men and women of today have to balance big responsibilities at the office with their role at home, including spouse and children-induced pressures. What can such persons do to avoid burnout when their careers are highly competitive?
Experts point out that the best way to avoid burnout is to take one's profession as the `super-hobby'. Try to really know the latest that should be known in your field. Keep your eyes and ears constantly open to register new developments. Try getting excited about new ways of doing things in one's profession. Look at how leading edge technologies and new approaches in one's profession are taking shape. If you do this you will never be out of sync with your profession even after many years of leaving the college. And most of all, your learning would come without pain.
All this presupposes that your profession is no drudgery and that you are proud of being part of your professional fraternity. Even if you were to take a break for a few years you will find that coming back to it would be smoother, and even enjoyable - because there is so much to catch up with.
Often the mistake those ambitious amongst you make is to get into an unhealthy competition. The symptoms of such unhealthy competition is feeling of hostility towards someone you think is better than yourself, holding onto key information without sharing it with colleagues etc. But remember that the person you can compete best is with yourself.
``Can I be a more skilled, more knowledgeable and be more effective today than I were yesterday'' If you constantly ask yourself this question and answer it honestly you can say that you are competing with yourself. Rather than getting weighed down by unhealthy competition, you will be in a field of creative tension where you better yourself everyday.
In times to come you will be asked to be a global citizen. For many of you who would work in international organisations there would no more be Indian, American, or Japanese organisations. There would only be global organisations. If you are lucky to join such an organisation, whether in the field of business or otherwise, you will be called upon to play roles that do not even exist now.
Think of the word `intrapreneur.' These days many organisations expect you to become an intrapreneur. An intraprenuer is an employee who views and works in the organisation like an entrepreneur. So long as she is an employee of the company, she would not be content with working according to some set rules.
Getting things done and working towards organisational goals become the governing temper of the employees. In such scenario there would be little importance to hierarchy and tradition. You will not be told everyday what or how to do things. There would be only some hazy and broad guidelines. The initiative will have to come from the intrapreneurs.
In such a situation, you will have to define yourself as not a job-holder, but a professional. Constant learning and updating knowledge of the field would then become a passion rather than simply `following the boss.'
Unless you are on top of your profession -- which comes with real interest in constantly learning new things in your profession -- you will be left out!
In such a situation the security that you feel would depend upon not which organisation you have managed to get into. Highest level of security would then come from being on top of one's profession -- a situation that comes from the real knowledge and application abilities in your chosen profession. That way, you will seek a career rather than a job! You will lead rather than follow. You will enjoy rather than grind on. You will be the master and not the slave.
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