Sitting duck or front-foot futureproofed?

At Progressfull we like to say keeping balanced and staying on the front-foot involves being willing to stick your neck out, yet for a lot of us, honestly, we prefer to stay stuck where we are

The thing is, staying stuck where we are, when it comes to the world of work, can often mean stuck like a sitting duck. Stuck with outdated skill-sets, mind-sets and behaviours. This is frankly, not a great idea if we want to be relaxed and fizzing with excitement about opportunities ahead of us in our future work life

What to do?

What we recommend is to futureproof yourself. If you futureproof something, you design or change it so that it will continue to be useful or successful in the future if the situation changes. Let's be clear, for many of us, our work situations change monthly, if not weekly. Frequent change is now our new normal

Futureproofing is about making sure you’re ready for what your work journey may have round the corner – this could be new technology, new processes, new ways of working, new physical, mental or emotional changes. Upskilling of course plays a big role in this (we’ll get onto that later), yet it’s not all about learning new skills or developing our character and intelligence

OK, so what really makes the difference?

Keeping your mind open to what you believe you can do and venturing to give things a try is what makes the difference. Swapping, "I can’t do that, it's just not for me" for, "what if I can learn to do that" is both the right attitude as well as truly empowering. Learning new skills and building our ability to accept change as a normal part of life are both futureproofing game-changers

This is what we mean by sticking your neck out and staying front-footed, so you can keep your balance and keep moving forwards in your work life

By staying on top of your skills, sharpening those you haven’t used in a while alongside learning new ones, means you’ll be on the front-foot and in a better position to take whatever changes happen in the working world in your stride

Futureproofing yourself via purposeful training and upskilling are now essential to boosting your career development, both building on the skills you already have to meet the demands of current and future employers, and the wider economy

The thing is, we never do know what tomorrow will bring – but what is definitely true is that if we don’t take some risks, if we don’t challenge ourselves and re-imagine ourselves, life is still going to happen, even if we are standing still, the meter is still ticking, life is still happening

At Progressfull, we love this quote from Albert Einstein ...

As progress and balance involves keeping on moving, how about we start thinking about whether we move enough to achieve progress in the areas of our lives which matter to us most - at home, at work, in our whole life?

Why exactly is being on the front-foot and futureproofed so linked to taking risks and keeping on moving? It's because taking risks can catapult us forwards to success as well as dramatically increase the chances of us achieving our goals

Underneath every risk resides a fear of uncertainty and possible failure. When we take risks we step out of our comfort zone and step into the unknown, in other words our stretch zone. Keeping on moving forwards and stretching involves confronting our fears and taking a leap of faith that everything will work out for the better. In reality, this doesn’t mean every risk is a blind gamble

Front-foot 'futureproofed you' would encourage you to understand the complexities of the risk involved so that you can take calculated risks that make sense in relation to where you want to make progress in your life

‘Current you’ tends to want to continue doing the same things and travel the road of least resistance - what’s easy, what’s instantly rewarding, what gets noticed now and recognised today. The key to moving towards your future goals and aspirations is considering what ‘future you’ would do today and tomorrow to move forward

Front-foot 'future you’ would want you to move forwards and stick your neck out, take that challenge, put your hat in the ring, learn that new skill, take that new course. Front-foot 'future you’ would know that you would gain a double dip of positive motivation – the mood-boosting perks that come with doing something new and the confidence you build in your sense of self and what you are capable of. Front-foot 'future you’ would encourage you to move forwards and stick your neck out – every time

As humans we are designed to be future-oriented - seeing and seizing opportunities is what keeps us moving forwards and making progress

It makes sense that taking those steps today, taking those risks today, secures us a brighter outcome in the future. Taking chances requires seeing the difference between the life you have now and the life you want, and understanding the work involved to make it happen

Start sticking your neck out, start being front-footed, by thinking how 'future you' would behave rather than how 'current you' would behave. Then you will continue to be useful and successful in the future, making progress in the areas of your life that matter most to you - at home, at work, in your whole life

Let’s stop being stuck like a sitting duck and start moving forwards so we are front-foot futureproofed

With all the change we are faced with on a regular basis, a lot of people are wondering how to futureproof themselves, so we decided to create an Upskill to help you futureproof yourself and stay front footed

Our Futureproof muscles Upskill combines bite-sized videos, private podcasts, 121 Mentor sessions, bespoke Journals and purposeful self-reflection exercises for you to apply - at home, at work, in your whole life. Building Futureproof muscles focusses on your career and what it takes to win today and tomorrow in the word of work - building the mind-sets of winning well, standing out, connecting courageously and futureproofing me. You will grow your influence, your reputation and your future options, increasing your impact in your organisation and beyond

 Be front-footed ... take a first step to futureproof you!

Discover our Futureproof muscles Upskill here