Sital Ruparelia

From January 2010 I’m reinventing myself and what I do.

The website branding will change, the newsletter will change. I’ll be widening the range of services I provide and the range of clients I work with.

Why?  What?  How?

Below are 9 peices of advice I gave during 2009 and I explain how I’m listening to my own advice to reinvent myself next year – and how you can use the same advice to reinvent yourself and your career in 2010.

1. “If you stand still – you’re in trouble”

Due to the pace of change in modern business, we all need to reinvent ourselves every 2-3 years just to keep up. Given that it’s almost 2 years since I started the 6 Figure Career Management site / newsletter, it’s time for a change to coincide with the significant developments in the market-places I operate in.

How about you?

How’s your market changed over the last 2 years?

What are the likely trends, problems and opportunities in the next 12 months?

How can you adapt to meet this changing landscape?

2. “Don’t define yourself by your job title”

Don’t define yourself rigidly by your job title – but instead look at the results of your talent.

I’m rebranding things under one brand: ‘Sital’ – and one website: SitalRuparelia.com, so that all the work I do will come under there – speaking, coaching, consultancy, career management, resourcing, employee engagement and retention.

When you’re reinventing yourself, start identifying the range of problems you’re adept at fixing and the results you’ve helped deliver, rather than a job title.  Get known for your talents. Then build your brand around ‘you’ – your unique style, values and approach.

That’s how you minimize your exposure to market downturns whilst standing out from the crowd.

3. “Widen your service offering”

We’re all effectively freelancers nowadays – even if we have a permanent contract. And as a freelancer you must constantly widen your service offering to survive and thrive in ever-changing markets.

That’s why this newsletter and my blog will from January provide not only career resources for individuals but ALSO advice for employers and business leaders on how to manage talent within their organisations.

So, as you look to reinvent yourself, look at who else you can help.

What skills do you have that other teams, firms or indeed industries can benefit from?

Better still, ask them and listen…

4.  ”Listen to your audience / clients / the market place”

You’ve been telling me that you want a shorter, punchier newsletter and blog posts. You’ve been asking for advice on dealing with people issues in your teams and businesses – particularly around employee engagement and retention.

You’ve been telling me you wanted something you could read on your Blackberry or iPhone. You’ve been telling me you like the newsletter’s upbeat tone blended with humour.

So the ezine will be much shorter and will focus on both:

A. Career management advice for individuals on how to build exceptional careers in less time and with less stress

B. Talent Management advice for organisations and business – advice on finding, engaging and retaining the right people

We’ll maintain the humour and rebrand the newsletter:  “Straight Talk With A Smile.”

But I’ll still share links to longer articles on my blog so you don’t miss out.

5. “Be agile and flexible”

Between 2003-2007 about 80% of my time was focused on helping firms to find and keep the right people and 20% on helping individuals with their careers. During 2008-2009, 80 percent of my time was spent helping individuals manage their careers and 20 percent helping firms.

I suspect 2010 will be 50:50 between the two areas, reflecting the recovery and improvements in the employment market.

So Iike any other small business I’ve had to adapt to the changing market by being agile and adjusting my branding and marketing activities to meet the changing needs of the market.

The very same applies to you – take a close look at trends and the changing needs of your employers and your market to see where you need to position yourself in 2010.

Then ask yourself how you need to change the way you market yourself in this new landscape.

6. “Keep moving forward – even when it’s uncomfortable”

After much resistance, from January, I’ll be  video blogging. That’s right, me on camera giving advice on career and talent management. I’ll also be doing audio pod casts.

My IT guru Sandra De Freitas, who looks after my website, blog etc has been telling me for months

“Sital, you really need to start a video blog. “Your natural style is to speak rather than write and people will get so much more value.  Plus we’re all watching much more video online than we used to and reading far less – and that trend will continue.”

My response has been…..“yes, I know. But not yet, I’m busy. We’ll start soon….’

I knew it was the right thing to do, but like with anything new, I have found myself procrastinating and putting it off. But am now pushing ahead, despite it feeling awkward and uncomfortable, because I know that the more I do it, the more natural it will become.

And the same applies to you. If you’re planning on reinventing yourself in 2010, remember it will be uncomfortable as you make changes, but that’s not an excuse not to do it. If it’s NOT uncomfortable then you’re not testing yourself much at all.

7. “Forget perfection – just get started”

The new newsletter, the updated website, the colour scheme, the logo, will NOT be what I had in mind or what I really want.  But a lack of time and resources mean that I can’t be a perfectionist – I need to listen to my own advice: just get started and make corrections as we go.

Same with you – you don’t have to get all your ducks in a row and have everything perfectly planned out before starting.

Just take the first step on the way – you’ll find that opportunities, resources and ideas ’show up’ once you’ve taken that first step.

8. “Be yourself. Be authentic”

‘Re-branding’ and “re-invention” sound like such fancy words – and for some people they sound like ’spin’ and a little false.

But what I’m talking about is the complete opposite. When you re-invent yourself, you need to be getting closer to your authentic self – the real you.

Anyone who’s worked with me in the last 15 years will tell you that humour and fun play a big part in my work. That’s just me.

All my friends will tell you that if we’re going out to a bar or party, my first question will usually be: “have they got sofas?!” becauase I love hanging out on sofas. Call me an old man, but all my video blogs will (you guessed it) involve me sharing ideas from comfy sofas!

All my clients will tell you I’m passionate, creative and draw lots of pictures to make my points. So the video blog will involve me talking to you from a sofa and drawing pictures so that you get tons more value – and some entertainment too.

Are all these a little quirky and different? Sure they are. But they’re also very authentic. It’s just me being myself rather than trying to be like everyone else.

Being the ’same as everyone else’ is the worst career strategy you can use. To stand out you need to reinvent yourself – not with spin – but with authenticity.

9. ‘Do some good’

Doing good is no longer deemed ‘fluffy’ but is in fact good for business.

And I firmly believe that our success is measured not by what we acquire – wealth, promotions, job titles etc – but by what we contribute.

It’s your contribution – not your bonus cheque – that you’ll look back on when you retire. It’s your contribution that will give your career and life a sense of meaning and purpose. Your contribution and the value you offer that will determine your legacy.

And so, as part of my contribution, the ezine will include an occasional idea or resource you can use to help you do meaningful work right now instead of ’some day’ when you’ve got all your ducks in a row.

And that’s the biggest tip on reinvention. Changing yourself and what you do is one of the toughest things you’ll ever do. So make sure the goal involves you becoming a better person and creating a legacy rather than simply making more money or getting a fancy title. There’s nothing wrong with money or titles, but it’s long been proven that money, titles and status don’t give job satisfaction and won’t make you fundamentally happy. Whereas doing something meaningful and making a difference will.

The new shorter, punchier newsletter will be out from early January. As will the www.SitalRuparelia.com website

(the current www.6figurecareermanagement site will redirect to the new site automatically)

The video blogs will be up and running from early January – or even earlier if I push myself through my procrastinating, ignore those uncomfortable feelings and just get them done!

1.  Stop over planning – it’s futile when things are constantly changing

2.  Focus on the present. Not the past, not the future. Just the present

3.  Break things down and focus on next steps

4.  Give yourself permission to be a little ‘flaky’ – it’s Ok to change your mind

5.  Give yourself permission to be a little ‘down’ at times. It’s Ok, there’s nothing wrong with you

6.  Surround yourself with supportive people to lean on

7.  Experiment more, not less

8.  Be bold. Forget small steps – start taking big leaps.

9.  Stop over thinking. Listen to your gut instincts and intuition much more than your head

10. Embrace the uncertainty

11. Be open to more than one possibility

12. Be committed to taking forward steps (even when it feels uncomfortable and scary)

13. Be Ok with screwing up and making a few mistakes. You’ll progress much faster

14. Get comfortable being uncomfortable  (the faster you get comfortable with change, the more successful your career will be)

15. Count your blessings.  You know where you’re next meal is coming from . You know where you’re sleeping tonight.  So you probably have much more certainty than people less fortunate than yourself. So get some perspective on things…

When people come and see me perform in comedy improvisation shows they often say “Wow, I can’t believe you get on stage and perform without a script – that looks so scary!”

Yes it’s scary, but it’s also exciting. And once you’ve had lots of goes, there is less fear and more excitement. It’s like anything in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets and the faster you improve.

Which is why “Being average and having lots of goes…” is one of the basic rules new improvisers are taught.

Why? Because anything we learn and master is achieved by:

i) Having lots of goes
ii) Falling over and screwing up several times
iii) Then getting back up and implementing some of what you learned from screwing up. And following these three steps over and over again

Think about it – isn’t that exactly how you learned to walk? How you learned to cook? Ski? Use email and the internet? Manage people and lead teams?

The learning, improvement and mastery in anything we do comes from having plenty of practice. By focussing on being just average (rather than great or perfect), it encourages you to have more goes than you would normally and so you can speed up your progress exponentially.

I believe the principle of “having lots of goes and being average” applies just as much to careers as it does on an improv stage.

Here are 3 key points to remember to help you embrace this rule in and out of your career:

1. Let go of perfection

If you’re job hunting, remember that you’re not trying to win a prize for the best resume/CV in the land – you’re just trying to secure some interviews. So focus your energy on getting your resume/CV “out there” rather than spending hours tinkering and perfecting it. The improvements will happen as you get out there getting feedback.

This same principle applies to anything else relating to your career – whether it’s your marketing pitch, application forms, presentation and public speaking, LinkedIn profile, interview technique, managing upwards, selling yourself etc. Let go of trying to be perfect and you’ll make progress far quicker.

2. Celebrate your screw ups

During an improv workshop when someone screws up, we’re all encouraged to cheer, celebrate and do some over the top high fives (…no joke).

Why? Because the best learning takes place when you screw up. So when someone screws up during a scene – it’s actually a big step forward, not backwards. And so it needs to be encouraged and kind of celebrated (whilst also learning the lesson).

Also, if someone has screwed up, it usually means they’ve taken a risk and pushed themselves outside their comfort zone (which is where success is usually found) or pushed the boundaries of creativity (which is where innovation comes from).

The same applies to you and your career. By avoiding screw ups and “playing safe’” you deny yourself critical learning opportunities and the scope to move on to bigger and better things.

So as crazy as it sounds, get into the habit of celebrating your set backs and rejections in your career because it means your making progress.

3. Think less, act more

Improvisers are encouraged to do less planning and less thinking. Instead, they are told to “jump and justifty” - that is – do something that feels right in the moment and course correct and justify later. When you focus on taking forward steps instead of overthinking, opportunities to take the scene in any different direction start showing up.

With their careers and work, many people overplan and overthink things – which does nothing but paralyse them into taking no action and so cause frustration. When what they should be doing is taking some actions now – just some next steps. It’s those next steps that actually shine the light to future steps and new opportunities.

So don’t worry about having the perfect plan and don’t be too concerned about screwing up – just take some next steps and you’ll find that you open the door to opportunities that you’d never even knew existed.

Your Field Work

1. Pick ONE specific area that you need to focus on and “have lots of goes at” to improve (e.g. networking, job applications, managing, public speaking and presentations etc).

2. Set yourself some mini targets for the next couple of weeks (eg “I will contact 3 people a week to network with”).

3. Find someone to hold you accountable. We all make promises to ourseleves and then don’t keep them – so find a colleague, friend, manager, coach or mentor who you can make yourself accountable to so that you definitely push through the perfectionism and fear and just have lots of goes.

If you need to improve one aspect of your performance to progress your career, then forget about trying to look good or wait until things are just right. Instead just be average and have lots of goes. You’ll find yourself improving much faster than you ever thought possible.

Will it be scary? Sure – but like performing on stage, without a script, it will also be very exciting!

Most mornings I head out for a 30 minute walk as soon as I wake up.

But most mornings my brain tries to give me 101 reasons not to go: “It’s cold, it’s about to rain, I’ll go to the gym later instead and have a better workout, I’m tired so maybe I should have a rest day, I’ll go for a walk this evening instead etc etc”
 
The real trick is to prevent myself time to think – and instead quickly grab my iPod and just step out of the door as fast I can. Once I’ve shut the door behind me and started, it’s all very easy and I have no problems walking for well over an hour.

I just have to get started. And once I do, I’m getting fitter, feeling good about myself and have a positive start to my day.

Does This Sound Like You?

The same applies to many job searchers who procrastinate and think too much about making calls to contacts and recruiters.

Click here to read the rest…

Today I’m taking the unusual step of re-posting an old blog post. The following article was published during the summer – but in recent days I’m getting asked so many questions on “how do I deal with all the uncertainty” that I thought it may be timely to reproduce the following ”how to” tips on dealing with all the change and uncertainty in the economy and job market.  

How To Thrive During Uncertain Times

“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.”
- John Allen Paulos (Writer and Speaker)

Over the last 2 years I have been learning comedy improvisation with the excellent London-based theatre company and corporate trainers, The Spontaneity Shop.  I have performed in about 5 shows so far and it’s been great fun.

But whilst I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s not something I have found easy.

You see, in a work environment, I can deal with change, think on my feet and “wing it” with the best of them. But when it comes to walking the uncertain tight-rope of comedy improvisation – on stage with no script and absolutely no idea what will happen next – I’ve found it challenging and consequently been a slow learner.

But earlier this year, I finally started to ‘get it’. Around May/June time with the direction of the tutors at the Spontaniety Shop, I finally started to learn and internalise the key lessons on how to handle (and indeed enjoy) the uncertainty that goes with making it up as you go along on stage.

There are 8 key lessons or rules I learned. Rules which I think apply equally to comedy improvisation as they do to walking the tight rope of managing careers during these uncertain times:

Click here to read the rest…

 “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.”
- John Allen Paulos (Writer and Speaker)

Over the last 2 years I have been learning comedy improvisation with the excellent London-based theatre company and corporate trainers, The Spontaneity Shop.  I have performed in about 5 shows so far and it’s been great fun.

But whilst I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s not something I have found easy.

You see, in a work environment, I can deal with change, think on my feet and “wing it” with the best of them. But when it comes to walking the uncertain tight-rope of comedy improvisation – on stage with no script and absolutely no idea what will happen next – I’ve found it challenging and consequently been a slow learner.

But earlier this year, I finally started to ‘get it’.

Click here to read the rest…

I read several career and business related blogs on a daily basis. Partly to support my own development, partly to keep me up to date with new ideas and partly because I enjoy it.   

One of my favourite career related blogs is Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist.  

I enjoy it because it combines excellent, well researched content with a very personalised writing style – it’s chatty, witty and draws career lessons from Penelope’s own life experiences.   

On that point, I’d like to point out an excellent post I’ve just read today on her blog on the subject of How To Find Meaningful Work. It reminded me of the similarities between building meaningful careers and comedy improvisation (really!) and prompted me to leave some comments on her blog under this post.   

Having written the comments, I thought “Hey, have I just got a post for my own blog here?!?”                                               
  
So here are my comments below on the similarities between the rules of comedy improvisation (or ‘improv’) and how to find meaningful work:  

Click here to read the rest…

Over the last week I have started attending improvisation workshops once again. I have being doing improvisation on-and-off for about 18 months now and have performed in 4 shows so far.

For those not familiar with improvisation (or improv), it’s essentially acting without a script (ie getting on stage and making stuff up!)

Usually in comedy format and usually in short sketches, it’s performed in front of a live audience. If you have ever watched the TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” - that’s improv.

I have always loved watching improv ever since seeing the likes of Paul Merton, John Sessions and Josie Lawrence on the TV during the 1990’s. Having been told that I have an improvisary style at times (whatever that means), I decided to take it up as a hobby!

Whilst yes, it can be scary and most definitely takes me outside my comfort zone – it is also quite exhilarating and really good fun.

It has also meant that I have met some really interesting people – the kind of people I don’t usually come into contact with during my corporate life. I have got to know part-time actors, actresses, writers, stand-up comedians and voice-over specialists (I didn’t realise that was actually a specialism!) – all dreaming of one day getting that big break on stage, film or television.

Talking of dreams, do you ever dream of leaving financial services and starting a new career or job that you are really passionate about?

If so, take a look at this article on the importance of subsidising your career changes in order to be truly successful. In the very same way that every actor or actress needs to subsidise their dream. Click here to have a read