From 30 to 35: Add Some Thickness to Your Life - Turn

All your unforeseen problems will meet you unexpectedly over time; all your once-chic casual encounters will also make you bear the costs that seem to be doomed over time. In this world, "The only thing that is unstoppable is time, which, like a sharp blade, silently cuts through everything hard and soft, constantly advancing, and nothing can make its progress even the slightest jolt, it But it changes everything." I always believe in one sentence: If you come out and hang out, you will have to pay it back sooner or later. Although you and I are both mortals, just an ordinary member of the plethora of living beings, I still hope that everyone's life can blossom and bear fruit in the face of the sun. Whether or not you can understand the meaning of this passage with your current experience, please write it down first. I believe that one day, you will understand. Because time can explain everything, time can prove everything, and time can solve everything.

——Inscription

    During the career planning consultation process in the last year, I clearly felt the urgency of the need for career planning for people over 35 years old. It is also from these cases that we have a clear insight into how the grasp of the time point plays a decisive role in a person's growth.

    Among our clients, there are often two extreme cases: one is a person who has achieved a certain level - at least a director level or above, has a certain status in the company, and has an annual salary of not less than 200,000; the other One is those who have worked for many years, but are still in a relatively low position. No matter it is the position level and material rewards, or the sense of personal value, they cannot be highly recognized. Although these two types of cases are extreme, they provide us with thinking that can be used for reference. Through comparison, we found that all those who have achieved certain success in career development have a common feature, that is, they have worked intensively for at least 10 years in the field they are familiar with and good at. And those who can't find their position in the workplace often change direction every one or two years, and never accumulate in a certain direction. Of course, in addition to the factor of frequent job-hopping, there is another factor, that is: there has been deep accumulation in one direction, but this accumulation is repetitive and has not increased, resulting in the stagnation of career development.

    Whether you admit it or not, you have to pay attention to the "35-year-old phenomenon." When recruiting talents, many companies clearly stipulate that the age is under 35 years old. If you're 35 years old and you're still posting resumes through job sites and jumping jobs, it's time to reflect on what you've done wrong. Of course, according to our practical consulting experience, if you really think about this problem at the age of 35 or even higher, it is very likely that you are unable to solve this problem, and many practical difficulties will make you feel powerless. , helpless. At this time, many people will regret their original choice, but they want to cry without tears. So, whether it's to avoid more detours or move towards greater success, you must think ahead about your future path to earning a living. There have been too many cases to prove that planning ahead is more useful than cramming.

    Among our clients, quite a few belong to the post-80s generation, which is also a high-incidence area for career planning issues. The oldest post-80s generation have passed the age of "thirties"; but there are still a considerable number of post-80s on the way to thirty. If youth is the capital that God gave you to make mistakes, you still have time to make up for it; but if you have reached the end of your twenties, this capital will no longer be your patent. From graduating college to your 30th year, this time is long enough to give you enough opportunities to understand the society, adapt to it, and reflect on your own growth.

    From 30 to 35 years old, there are 5 years of it. If you are given enough time to make mistakes, then, in order not to make a mess of your career after 35, you should at least set clear goals at 30 and use 5 years to catch up. This may be your last best time to grow. If you miss this opportunity, you are no longer young, and the society will no longer forgive your youth and frivolity with an inclusive mentality. Otherwise, if you take one more wrong step, you will have to make up for it at ten times the cost in the future. From the age of 30 to 35, you should learn to accumulate more thickness for your life like all living beings, so that the rest of your career will not be spent in the regrets and regrets of "if everything can be repeated".     30 years old: The first problem

    of the three major problems you must face is the problem of family and responsibility.



    Don't think you are young. Don't think that some problems are far away from you. Whether decadent or busy, your time is flying by and you feel like you are getting older faster. There are issues, whether you want to face them or not, but your stage of growth dictates that you have to take on age-appropriate responsibilities. Most people, at this age, have to think about family issues. If you've already started a family, you have to be sober: How exactly should your career develop to ensure that you can support the family's burden? This includes not only your lover, but also your children and parents (especially when both are only children, you have to bear the support of the four elderly people on both sides). At this stage, your pressure is multiplied, but if your growth in the workplace cannot be multiplied, or even regresses in some form, then your future career development will face more pressure. . And this kind of pressure, more often, will make you have no spare energy to seek better development. When many people change jobs, they often have a big concern: if I jump, if the income is not as high as it is now, then, in my current job, will I easily move again? To put it more bluntly: Do I dare to move easily? Do I still have the courage and courage? Therefore, if you want to take action, go as early as possible, before you have the burden of your family, go into battle lightly, and do your best to rush forward. This is your only choice. Don't enjoy comfort at this time, otherwise, you will "be at ease" in mediocrity for the rest of your life.

    The second problem is the matching degree of ability and age.

    Why do many companies clearly stipulate that they require 5 years of experience, 10 years of experience, and similar work experience requirements when recruiting talents? Because working hours mean the level of ability to match. For the same job, the abilities accumulated by 5 years of experience and 10 years of experience are different, and the responsibilities that can be assumed are also different. The longer your working years, the stronger your ability is, and there is a positive multiplying relationship between the two. But if you violate this relationship, then you will not be recognized by the employer, and you will lose better career development opportunities. One of the more difficult situations for many of our clients is the ability-to-age mismatch. Many people who have worked for 3 or 5 years, or even those who have worked for one year, are not much different in terms of ability, so when they want to break through in their careers, they will encounter a lot of resistance. There are two reasons for this situation: one is frequent job-hopping, and there is no accumulation in one direction, and there is no skill; the other is that although long-term accumulation in one direction, only the first year grows, and the remaining few years They are all doing repetitive work and staying where they are.

    So, for those 30-year-old friends, from now on, you must carefully examine a question: How many years have I worked since graduation? Are the abilities I have in me commensurate with my age? If it doesn't match, then you must establish a sense of crisis early and run forward to bridge the gap with those who see it and ensure that you will not be pushed out of the horse in the process of competition.

    The third problem is the construction and improvement of knowledge structure.

We once served a customer and did sales for five or six years, and also accumulated a wealth of practical operation experience. Once I switched jobs to apply for the position of regional marketing manager of a well-known fast-moving consumer company. During the interview process, he could answer all the questions on the specific operational level, but when it came to the questions on the system level and strategy level, his mind went blank. I believe that people who have worked in the workplace for five or six years have this feeling: they feel that at the specific operational level, whether it is a process, or skills and methods, they can be proficiently mastered; but if you look at it from a higher-level perspective Problems, often do not know how to start.

    In the workplace, people of different positions do different things, and their vision and thinking patterns are also different. A most basic salesman thinks about how to maintain the terminal well. This is something at the tactical level and his responsibility; but if a marketing director plays a role like a salesman, he still thinks about how to deal with the terminal boss every day like a salesman. , that is his dereliction of duty. The operation of every enterprise will be composed of strategy and tactics. Large strategies will be subdivided into small strategies, and small strategies will be subdivided into execution tactics one by one, which will be implemented by grassroots personnel. People at different levels are responsible for different levels of work and perform their own duties, which is also the meaning of teamwork. Similarly, every person at different levels has different knowledge structures. The higher the level, the higher your vision and thinking about problems, and your overall knowledge structure level should also develop and break through. Otherwise, your ability can only stay at the specific grass-roots level of operation forever, there will be no great development, and it is even less likely that your position will rise.

    In addition, from the perspective of communication, the higher your position, the closer you are to your boss, and the more opportunities you have to get in touch with the company's top leaders. If you can't keep a high degree of consistency with the bosses in the way you look at the problem, then your ability will not be recognized. In such a situation, your chances of getting promoted are slim and your career will stop there.

    Before 30 years old: how to lay a solid foundation

    30 years old is an age that connects the past and the future, and it is also a very important time point. Before we conduct career planning consultation, there will be an evaluation link to systematically evaluate the comprehensive basis of the client to see if it is still suitable for career planning. One of the very important criteria is the age issue, focusing on the age of about 30 years old. If you have almost no accumulation before the age of 30, it is very difficult to achieve a breakthrough in your career after the age of 30, and there are many practical problems that cannot be solved. This is sore. Whenever we encounter a client with such a hard injury, we can only say to them, "I'm sorry, we can't do anything." You need to take responsibility for yourself before the age of 30 and plan ahead.

    The first thing you need to do is identify a goal that you can strive for 5 years, 10 years or more. This is an ideal state. Because a clear goal can make your career growth revolve around a point to accumulate experience, and this accumulated experience is also a bargaining chip for your future promotion and salary increase. Although experience is not necessarily related to ability, if there is no accumulation of experience, your ability is basically impossible to improve.

Regarding the question of goals and core competitiveness - the so-called core competitiveness must have a core. Around this core, you can build your competitiveness. And this core is your career goal direction - what kind of person do I want to be? This problem is solved, the direction is clear, no matter how slow you go, you can go faster than those who take detours, because you have clear your goal, you have been moving towards your goal, you are walking in a straight line . What is the shortcut? The shortcut is not to take detours, but to always go straight.

    We consulted a client last year and changed 6 companies in 7 years. According to the common understanding, people tend to think that this person's career development is very bad. Actually not. This person's current monthly salary after tax is 10,000 yuan, which is not bad. You may wonder: Why does a person who frequently changes jobs have such a level of career development? Some people will think that he is lucky, luck is better than others. Actually not. Observing his growth experience, we found that there is only one reason, that is: every time he changed jobs, he did not deviate from the established direction. As long as the direction is good, then every move he takes is approaching this direction and accumulating more chips for future career development. The thickness you accumulate will ultimately determine your future development height. Now that housing prices and prices are so high, many people's living pressure has suddenly increased, which has also led to many people becoming impetuous and drifting under the pressure of survival. A job often does not last for a few months, and I feel that there is no hope and the salary cannot be improved, so I often choose to change jobs. But in fact, job-hopping does not fundamentally solve the problem. Employers now have become very pragmatic, and how much they do and how much they get is only natural (of course, the privileged class is not within the scope of discussion). If you can't contribute more value to the company's development, but you still want to get more returns, no one is willing to do such a trade that only makes money and does not lose. How much value you contribute to the company depends on how capable you are. The accumulation of ability comes from long-term persistence in one direction. Even those who seem to be enviable successful people also need to cultivate and grow over time. Those who want to make up for the loss in a very short period of time because of taking a detour will only make you lose more things.

    You may have heard of the 10,000-hour rule: No matter if you want to succeed in any field, you have to put in at least 10,000 hours of hard work. Whether it's the best athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians or scientists, you'll find they've been giving at least a decade, every day, Macolm Gladwell says It took no less than three hours of hard work to emerge. There is such an example in the book: the 34-year-old world's top violinist Maxim Vengerov was born in Siberia. He was exposed to the first violin at the age of 4, and has shown extraordinary talent since then. Yet his talent and dedication go hand in hand. He practiced 7 hours a day, gave a recital at the age of 5, and won an international award at the age of 15. "My mother came home at 8pm every night and taught me the violin after dinner until 4am," Vengrove said. "It was torture for a 4-year-old, but two years later I became The violinist."

    A lot of people were complaining about not having a chance. Not so. Frank Freddy, a sociology professor at the University of Kent, believes that people who effectively put in a lot of time into practice will naturally have their own luck: "They work hard, almost demanding, and when the luck comes, they're ready." It echoes the old Chinese saying - "Opportunity favors only the prepared mind." If you don't encounter an opportunity, don't complain. The first thing you need to reflect on is yourself. In what areas are you lacking in preparation? According to our experience, only if you persist in one direction for at least 5 years, you are likely to be rewarded, and this reward will have a relatively long-term impact on your future career development. At the same time, it is the accumulation of such a long period of time that your foundation is very solid and firm, and your footsteps will be more stable.

    In the workplace, there are only two things to do: one is to do things, and the other is to be a person. If the goal is to accumulate more core skills and do things better, then learning to be a person is the second big thing you need to consider when you want to develop your career. We even believe that being a person is a hundred times more important than being able to do things. Finding a suitable career goal may not be easy for many confused people; but learning to be a person is a professional quality that you can cultivate in any company and at any time. Even if your professional skills do not have much breakthrough and growth, good professional quality will add chips to your professional development from another level. We also met many clients with insufficient abilities but with good attitudes and positive attitudes. They successfully conquered the interviewers with their excellent professionalism and got good development opportunities. There is a saying, "If you want to do things, be a person first." If you lack the ability, you can cultivate it slowly; but if you don't know how to be a person, in any organization, you will become a street rat that everyone shouts and beats.

In the cultivation of human beings, there are four elements that can have a fatal impact on your future career development.

    The first is your interpersonal skills. This includes your relationship with your boss, as well as your relationship with your co-workers. A bad relationship with your boss directly determines your promotion. So I often say something like this to our clients: "If you don't have a good relationship with your boss, it basically means your career at this company is over." And a bad relationship with your coworkers, even if you One day you are promoted and become their leader, and you will also be emptied of power due to the lack of a "mass foundation". Your subordinates will either act against you, or deliberately provoke you. You will find that the leadership position is actually very difficult to sit on.

    The second element is to establish the ability to continuously learn. We should pay attention to the importance of learning. We met a client last year, who is nearly 40 years old. He has been an accountant for 14 years, but he is still only a junior supervisor. There is no opportunity for promotion in the company, and he has not been for many years. Got a raise. We asked him a question, "Did you have any training, refresher, or any other form of recharging during those 14 years?" He said, "No." "Never?" "Never." This is a very extreme example, but this phenomenon is very common in the workplace. Regarding your own learning and growth, you may wish to ask yourself a few questions: Have my professional abilities improved significantly compared to a year ago? Do I have my own unique insights, whether in theory or practice? If I encounter something within the scope of my responsibilities, can I handle it alone, and am I able to take charge of it alone? Thickness determines height. The reason why you will have the accumulation of thickness is because of your continuously strengthened learning ability. Without learning, your career development will stall. You think you haven't regressed, but in fact others are making progress, the gap between you and others has unknowingly widened, and you have regressed.

    The third element is to establish a professional spirit. Whether you have goals or not, whether the job is something you want to do or not, as long as you are in this position, you should get things done. Finding a job in one's position is the most basic professional quality, and it is also an indispensable professional spirit in any position. Since you are in this position, your job responsibilities require you to do your job well; if you don't want to do it well, then leave and don't waste everyone's time here. Good professionalism is sometimes more important than the ability itself.

    I once saw the "8 types of spiritual beggars in the enterprise" summarized by others on Sina Weibo. I think it describes the current workplace attitude of some people: if the leader does not communicate with me, I will not communicate; the leader does not approve I, I don't work hard; if the leader doesn't encourage me, I don't work hard; I'm unhappy because the leader won't coax me; if I can't complete the task, I always use a bunch of objective reasons to deal with it; I hope that everyone will not make a fuss; if you don’t understand technology, you will complain that the company has no training; if you are not motivated, you will complain that the company’s atmosphere is not good.

    A good professional spirit is a necessary quality for many outstanding people to succeed. Even if you don't like the job, don't treat it in a negative way, because you're wasting not only the company's time, but your own time. In the workplace, you can gain nothing but two things: one is reward, and the other is growth. Before there is no clear goal, do the things in front of you to the extreme, and strive for everything you can get in this position with your best efforts. Treat work negatively and you'll be left empty-handed and get nothing.

    The fourth element is to have a strong heart. Many of the people I have met are actually very fragile at heart, unable to withstand all the hardships that come along the long road of life. You know, it's not all smooth sailing for everyone. Even Jesus, why not suffer the baptism of suffering? A strong heart can make a person see hope in despair, while negativity and pessimism will only make you miss opportunities in the face of hope. There is such a line in "The Shawshank Redemption": "Cowardice imprisons people's souls, hoping to feel free. The strong save themselves, and the saints cross people." You don't have the ability to become a saint, but you must become a strong one. "Natural selection, survival of the fittest." Survival of the fittest is always the eternal law of natural progress. Only by adapting to this law can you gain a place to survive in such a competitive society.

    After the age of 30: How to achieve a qualitative breakthrough

    Career development after the age of 30 should no longer be standing still and stagnant. If you want to achieve a relatively large development in your career after the age of 35, you should start at the age of 30 and make good use of 5 years to prepare for the following 3 crucial things.

    The first thing to do is to complete your specialized brand building. How to build your own personal brand. After you reach the age of 30, you will definitely not be able to change jobs frequently. The biggest disadvantage is that your professional knowledge will grow at a relatively low level forever, which will affect your promotion and salary. increase. What should I do and what is suitable for me should have a clear and definite position at this time, and use the remaining 5 years to accumulate. Otherwise, the "35-year-old phenomenon" will definitely be staged on you.

    "Father of Japanese Strategy" Kenichi Ohmae also put forward this view in his monograph "Professionalism": "Why do you win? What will affect the general trend of the world in the future is the competition between individuals. Whether it can dominate the world stage, Forge the core competitiveness that others cannot surpass? Your only reliance is professionalism." Are you a first-class business person, or an ordinary office worker? The difference is here! Giving yourself a professional position and establishing your own brand image will add more valuable chips to your future career development. We have met customers who have changed jobs 13 times in 5 years and have contacted more than 10 industries. If you are like this, you are unprofessional.

    Of course, in order to support your "professional" brand image, you also need to make efforts in the following two aspects:

    The first aspect is the knowledge structure we mentioned earlier, which should be separated from the specific operational level. Problems, put your eyes on the problem higher and farther, and become a person with "visionary vision" rather than "short-sightedness". You have to look up to the best people in this industry, take them as your goal, and serve as an example for your own cultivation and growth, so as to bridge the gap with excellence step by step. At this time, on-the-job learning, advanced studies, training, etc. need to be put on the agenda, and learn to enrich their minds with new knowledge.

    The second aspect is to establish their own influence in the industry. Excellent talents in every industry have their own circles. For example, Harvard Business Review Network, Professional Manager Network, Salesperson Network, etc. are all places where relevant talents gather. Why do some people pay tens of thousands for a lecture? Why are some people able to use their own power to promote the development of an industry? The reason is that they have too much influence. If you want to be an excellent professional, you must be on par with the best people, establish your influence in this industry, and use your thoughts to influence others. We met a very good lad last year and I'm still very impressed. He is a college student majoring in printing. After graduation, he went to a printing factory to do sales. Perhaps in the eyes of some people, there is nothing special about this profession and this position. But it is such a position that seems to have no gold content, but he has built his own influence in his own unique way. He set himself a requirement: to write an article every month to be published in the most influential magazine in the industry. Of course, not every article can reach the quality of publication, but one must be written every month to ensure the quality. The benefits of doing so are, first, to establish your influence in the industry; second, to allow you to form your own knowledge structure. We mentioned the problem of knowledge structure earlier, and it needs to be emphasized again here. The knowledge you acquire through study, training, etc. is someone else's, not your own. To form your own knowledge structure, you need to apply this acquired knowledge to work practice. In the process of practice, the same knowledge theory, under different circumstances, each person's feelings and experiences are different. The process of writing an article is a process of summarizing and reflecting on your own insights and experiences in practice. The knowledge structure formed in this process can truly be called your "own" knowledge.

    The second thing is to train yourself to be an excellent manager (here refers to the middle manager, which is also your first managerial goal). Except for those who are passionate about technology, if you want to gain more space in the workplace, promotion in the position is necessary. Some people will say that I don't want to be a leader, I just want to do my job well, and I'm content. For those of you who think that way, all I can say is I'm sorry, it's not your choice. The reason is very simple: when you are 25, you can be a basic employee; when you are 30, you can also be a basic employee; but when you are over 35, if you only want to be a basic employee , it is not realistic. We mentioned the "35-year-old phenomenon" earlier. If a 35-year-old person's abilities are still limited to basic positions, then such a person is basically of little value (of course, except for backward state-owned enterprises and institutions). So, whether you like it or not, you must make job promotion an important goal on your career growth path and work hard for it.

    Stepping into a managerial position is a critical step in your career growth. The future development space is inseparable from this promotion. But this seat is not for everyone. Gallup once conducted a survey and found that the reason why basic employees leave frequently is that the problem is not the company, but the boss, the middle management of the company. In our career planning consulting experience, we often encounter such problems: it is precisely because of poor middle management that it has a very negative impact on the development and growth of subordinate employees, resulting in their career development, whether in terms of professional ability, Or in terms of professional training, can not get effective growth.

    Here we will not discuss how important the "middle-level crisis" is to the development of the company, such a relatively macro topic. From a simple point of view, you must realize that your management will likely change the lifelong destiny of your subordinates. , it is your wrong management style that unknowingly hurts your subordinates and forces them to leave the company. When managers are recruiting employees, they hate people who frequently change jobs. But as a bystander, I have to say this: When you are complaining about the infidelity and low quality of job applicants, have you considered establishing a benign talent growth mechanism so that everyone can grow? While complaining about the shortage of talents, have you considered how to cultivate talents seriously? Many companies will say that we have trained them, but they can’t keep them. In the end, they all make wedding dresses for others. This is a thing that is worth the loss, so they are not so keen on talent training. But the question is precisely here: why can't you keep people? If every company does not cultivate talents and wants to eat "ready-made", then the final consequence will be: all enterprises will face a situation where no one is available!

    When your growth is hindered by your boss, this is your misfortune, you can choose to "vote with your feet"; when you become a manager one day, we don't want to pass on this misfortune. . Only in this way can the cultivation of talents enter a positive cycle, so that everyone can find their own place in the workplace. There are many difficulties in this, but I hope that people with ideals can continue to work hard and gradually change all this.

    The third thing is to find a growing company and accompany its growth in a relatively long period of time. In the process of growth, it is very important to find a company with growth potential and room for development, and grow with the company. First, you can witness the growth process of a company from small to large, from weak to strong, you will have a deeper understanding of the company's operations, and you will also be able to appreciate the position and role of your role in the company's growth. Second, in the process of company growth, your value will have more room to play, and it will be easier to show. It is understandable that many people tend to look for large companies when looking for a job, but if you want to grow quickly, it is actually a better choice to look for growing companies that are not too large. Because in the process of growth, the demand for talents will be more urgent, and your promotion will be faster. The third is that your loyalty will bring more rewards for your development. One of the most important aspects of corporate employment is loyalty. No company likes the employees of Chaoqin Muchu. Especially now that the job-hopping rate and turnover rate are still high in many companies, loyalty has become a very valuable professional spirit.

   No matter you are now "running to the third" or on the way to "running to the third", please always remind yourself: don't waste your good years, seize all the time you can, and accumulate more thickness for your life like all living beings. As you get older, look back on your life. Do you wish it was a life of comfort, or a life of regret and regret?

    Finally, I end this article with my favorite Steve Jobs quote. "You can't do too many things in one lifetime, so do everything wonderfully. Your time is limited, so don't live for others. Don't be limited by dogma, don't live in other people's ideas. Don't Let the opinions of others dictate your inner voice. The most important thing is to follow your own heart and intuition bravely, only your own heart and intuition know your own true thoughts, and everything else is secondary.”

Original address: http://yeluotiying.iteye.com/blog/2151045