Could the saying “If you're not at the table, you’ll probably be on the menu,” be very relative to success in the 21st century? In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and shifting societal norms, the saying emphasises the importance of active involvement and mindfulness. One can relate to a forest story of predator and prey to illustrate this point, but the reality of the 21st century is far more complex. It is about how to win in job searching, entrepreneurship, and leadership in today’s fast-growing world. Today's youth undeniably aspire to high-paying jobs, good governance, successful businesses, and rationally “a soft life.” However, only a few have identified what it takes. In this article, I highlight hacks to winning and staying relevant in the 21st century. Who stays relevant in today’s dynamic world? The 21st century demands more than traditional education and work experiences. It calls for global citizens who are dynamic, creative, innovative, effective at communication, great in collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and lifelong learning. These individuals potentially navigate the complex and ever-changing technological, transactional, and social media world. As a result, constant learning, skills improvement, and adapting to change are crucial practices. Self-awareness is the first step to tapping into one’s self space, opportunities, and career realisation. The power of self discovery is easily understood in situations of making critical choices. Think about a research university student having two internship offers in one company. One with a team researching employee mental health and another one to work on a market analysis. This situation will require the student to be aware of their passions and career aspirations in order to choose between research on mental health or working on the market analysis. At least an idea about whether they would love contributing to the mental health of employees or identifying market patterns for the company. That way, individuals who understand their passion and motives find it easier and quicker to define their mission in life and make right decisions in career pathing. Discovering your true self and the cause of living in line with what the world needs does not only lead to right career choices and potential to create impact, but also provides fulfillment and success. There’s no definite formula to self discovery. Utmostly, the secret is taking action at any point in life. While some discover their path early in life through inborn talents, others require trying different activities, school subjects, or work experiences. One or more on the list of personality tests, peer reviews, career guidance, mentorship, volunteering, internships, training, apprenticeships, work and trying new things can contribute highly to self discovery and career realization. For those struggling on this journey, keep in mind that it’s okay to not know what you want to do. Sometimes career realisation and satisfaction takes multiple times of trying and quitting. Staying in action with a positive attitude is the best you can do. Eventually your world will enlighten on one or more attempts. Strategic preparation became a key secret to success. The fast growing and dynamic nature of the 21st century makes success limited to the strategically prepared individuals, institutions, businesses, and organizations. What does strategic preparation look like? If one was waiting for a public bus, strategic preparation is not about the idea of being at the bus stop early and staying to wait for a bus. Strategic preparation seeks more to learn about when the bus will arrive and get ready to go when it arrives, than to wait blindly even if its arrival wasn’t assured. It is wise to develop a daily routine of learning practices and approaches to stay updated with opportunities and ready to deserve winning them. For instance, an entrepreneur who is looking for investment stands chances when they know that investors require compelling financial reports to study and trust the business. That way, a strategic entrepreneur develops best business practices in accounting and management. The ones who fail at this eventually lose trust and opportunities. It’s crucial for an entrepreneur to master best business practices in their daily business routine. 21st century opportunities in business are for the smartest and most daring of business operators and entrepreneurs. In leadership, leading doesn’t begin when one gets a position. Leadership is rather a lifetime journey that begins when one sees the need and feels urgency to serve and impact. Great leaders prepare by volunteering, taking initiatives, and solving problems. That way, they prove to people the capabilities and win their trust. These leaders are not imposed or enforced but nominated and voted for positions on demonstration basis. This is because they have proven their capability and passion earlier from their daily priorities and contributions. Another bell on preparation goes to those who are worried about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over their career roles. Upgrading skills or learning new skills to transition is advisable. AI will definitely not do everything. AI is majorly for avoiding unnecessary delays and boosting efficiency and productivity of humans. Human intervention will remain on demand. Prepare to get into roles that will be safe from probable competition of AI by upgrading or transitioning. An interesting but infamous fact is that AI even forms new jobs by creating more possibilities as it transforms the way of doing things and results. Wonder what to do when you’re prepared enough but you lose an opportunity? If an opportunity is missed, the approach is as simple as to continue working and developing skills. Don’t take it personally or lose hope. Stay in position to prepare for the next because opportunities will never stop coming. An opportunity is likely to be around the corner or in the neighborhoods. Most interesting from that network of people who know you and see your courage and abilities. For instance, if a software developer who is passionately and persistently taking challenges, working on projects fail to get an opportunity that they chased, it will not be the end of this career. Eventually there's a high chance to win other opportunities or an employer somewhere coming their way through recommendations. A bad mistake one could make is failing to stay in action. Don’t accept living idle for anyday. Always be on something and find alternatives as you wait and prepare for bigger opportunities. In the end, it will reward your experience and value. There's a new art of securing opportunities. The saying “If you're not at the table, you'll probably be on the menu and they might have you for lunch,” is alternatively elaborated as “Ensure to sit at that table of opportunities. If the table is full, sit on the next. And if the whole room is full, don't shy away from sitting on the floor. Staying engaged around your spaces of opportunities, being persistent enough, and staying in action to learn and embrace the fact that some opportunities take time is the mastery of the greatest of opportunity winners. Finding good mentors and a network of influence is also invaluable for creating better guidance, advice, and connections. Great mentors play a significant part of the story. Lastly, it is pretty wise to unlearn being driven solely by money. Particularly, while still on the journey of learning and self realization. You may be in need of money but what will serve you most is taking projects and challenges to seek experience even at no cost as long as you see value in the foreseeable future. Remember to do away from the traditional way of counting experience in terms of years and seek experience with smart and strategic approaches. No one cares about how many years of experience you say, but your demonstrated skills, contribution, reputation earned at that particular volunteering, internship, work, or other experiences. To break it down, think of a five year employee who spends a good number of office hours on YouTube tabs like movies, chats, and other things that do not challenge them or serve their work and a one year employee who took work time seriously to create an impact, challenging initiatives, and solutions to particular challenges. Honestly, there’s a huge difference in value and competence of the two employees. In conclusion, winning in the 21st century is for individuals who have mastered the art of securing and sustaining opportunities by self discovery, strategic preparation, and dynamism. Embrace constant learning and adaptability to change. The author is a Usability Specialist & Technical writer at KudiBooks, a cloud-based accounting software and payment solution.
