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A set of future planning guidelines.

Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “Mr. L” (ID: lxianshengmiao) , author Lachel .

What is your working status during this time?

A while back, I interviewed several friends around me randomly and asked them how they feel about working from home.

Some people answered: I’m bored, I can’t make any progress, especially want to hurry back to work.

But some friends told me: It ’s so cool. Not only is it much more efficient than usual, I even wrote a few articles and started thinking about doing my own sideline.

Someone told me: The company shut down and stopped the loss. I plan to resume my job after the epidemic is stable.

I was also told: I’m ready to wait until the epidemic is over, aiming at the gap, and getting involved in the industry that I had previously favored …

Anyway, I believe that after this time of staying at home, you, me, and everyone should rethink your relationship with work.

So today, I want to talk to you about my views on “Future Career Planning.”

I hope to give you some inspiration.

Please think about a question: What do you think of an ideal working state in your future?

The answer for the vast majority of people should be “No work”-that’s good. However, at least for ordinary people, it is not so easy to achieve. So, if we still need work, what factors are particularly important?

This question may have different views from different people, but there must be an intersection: more freedom.

I call it “degrees of freedom.”

What do you mean? It refers to the ability to freely choose the way of life and work without the constraints of positions, companies and industries.

For most people, absolute “financial freedom” may be out of reach, but pursuing a higher relative “degree of freedom” is an achievable goal.

Also, it is an increasingly urgent factor.

Why? Because, as I mentioned in many articles, there will be two trends in the future social formation.

One is vertical absorption and replacement: more and more operational and transactional work will be given to artificial intelligence. It is very likely that in 10 or 20 years, nearly half of our jobs today will cease to exist.

The second is horizontal integration and cross-border: more and more work will require cross-domain “multi-faceted players” (such as full-stack programmers). Traditional work mode that specializes in one point will slowlyLosing competitive advantage.

Actually, what is the nature of “degrees of freedom”? It is not bound by a certain label or condition, and has more choices.

For example: The traditional working mode is like putting a label on you, which says “front-end engineer”, “copywriting” and “HR”; and the high degree of freedom mode is like putting a label on your body. Each tag contains a capability that can be freely combined to suit different tasks and positions.

Please note: I am not urging you to start a business or run a freelance job, absolutely not. Because whether it is freelance or entrepreneurship, it may not be suitable for everyone-freelance is difficult to ensure a stable source of income, and entrepreneurship is even more difficult, with less than 1% success on average.

What we want to pursue is our ability to “have more choices”-this is the core of freedom.

Only in this way can we share the risks to the maximum when the impact comes, meanwhile, we have stronger adaptability and can quickly adjust the industry, adjust the positioning, and recover.

This is also the principle that I have been upholding and practising over the years: all current goals and plans have the priority of improving future “degrees of freedom”.

So, what are some ways to help us achieve this?

1. Extend your value chain position

I have done a lot of work over the years. From content, to promotion, marketing, sales, products, and back to content; from online, to offline, to online …

What motivated me to do this? Is it fulfillment and curiosity? It’s not, but fear. It is the fear of “I will not be bound by a certain position and I will not be able to jump out of my life”.

This is a terrible thing. It means: you will have no resistance to risk.

So, think about this: What is the value chain of your company? What are the links in the entire value chain, from the source, to processing, to market development, to sales, how to understand, understand and understand the entire business chain?

Try to understand and get involved in them.

I’m not asking you to change jobs or change jobs, but I hope that in your daily work, you can think more: What do we do? Why does this market need us? What role does my job play in it? What else is there to do? How can I reach them, help them, and learn from them?

Slowly, from the “point” to the “line,” the rooted position is extended to the upstream and downstream of the value chain.

This is the first level: break free from “skill”.

Next, extend horizontally: What industries are similar to us? What is the underlying business logic of different industries? If you have the opportunity, you may wish to do more “cross-border”Learn more about other industries, open up relationships between industries, and raise your understanding of business to a higher level.

This is to extend from the “line” to the “face”, so that you can get rid of the shackles of “industry”.

In the end, what is our goal? It is to establish a diversified business system, which can provide us with income from different channels, and give us a steady stream of support, as well as the resources and capabilities of “resurgence.”

This is the third level: from “face” to “polyhedron”, breaking away from a certain “entity”.

I have a lot of friends who are doing offline cultural and creative and entertainment business. I lost a lot in this shock. Many people are planning to liquidate and close, but there is a friend, not only not affected much. Instead, it opened up new product lines. How did it happen?

The reason is simple: he does not only do offline business, but also online business; not only content consumer goods, but also suppliers to businesses in the same industry. Therefore, for him, the frustration of offline operations will not hurt the bones, and the cash flow of other departments is enough to support the company to sustain.

Conversely, he can also tighten offline operations, deploy some human and resources to new projects, take the opportunity to do some new experiments and explorations, and seek new opportunities from the shuffle of the industry.

This is the “anti-fragility” that I have always emphasized. The same is true for companies and people.

In this uncertain world, only by becoming more flexible and resilient can we better resist risks and go on persistently and firmly.

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2. Cultivate the ability to solve problems independently

I’ve seen many examples like this:

Being at the top of a large company, the income is quite substantial, and there is no room for improvement. So he decided to start a business. Unexpectedly, in less than one or two years, successive failures have occurred, and a large amount of savings has been lost. As a last resort, I went back to work again …

Why do these excellent people still encounter entrepreneurial failures?

This is because the failure rate of entrepreneurship is inherently high; but on the other hand, it is also related to them:

Many people have grown up in a “stable mode” for a long time. They are accustomed to relying on the power of teams, companies, and platforms.

For example, in a company, you have a full set of data assistance, and many problems are solved.Solution; but when you leave the company, lose these databases, and face a black eye in the real world, can you still make good decisions?

In the company, you have cross-departmental resource assistance. Many tasks just need to simply post a requirement; but after you come out, you need to find reliable people, communicate, dock, supervise, and control delivery time And quality, can you control the process?

And so on. These are problems that are difficult to face when used to using a team, but they do exist.

So, although this is an era of “teamwork”, it doesn’t mean “you just need to do what you have at hand”-if you continue to do so, you can easily narrow your vision Can’t see the whole picture of the world.

I call this the “segmentation trap.” Think about it: your current status is: “I ca n’t do it without a team” or “I can do it, but with a team, I can do better”

If you are the first, try to find a way to make yourself the second.

Specifically, you can ask yourself these questions:

• Did I spend too long in a familiar and stable environment?

• What can I do to increase my experience?

• What things do I need to do for my team and department? Can I resolve them independently?

• In addition to the existing implementation, can I have other paths?
  

  This can effectively cultivate your ability to resist risks and allow you to face complex situations more easily.

  3. Thinking from the market perspective

  I have always emphasized a point: no matter if you are technical, administrative, or operational, you must learn one thing: understand the market.

  Why? the reason is simple. Revenue is the lifeblood of a company. There are only two possibilities for a company to continue to operate: either it has revenue at this time, or it is expected that it will have revenue in the future.

  A bit more straightforward: what is the company’s holdings based on, and is it based on investors? Is it based on shareholder will? Are they based on employees? no. It is based on market demand. It exists because some people need it.

  That is to say, no matter where you are in the company, the ultimate purpose of your job is to do one thing: better serve the market and meet the needs of users.

  So, conversely, from the perspective of the market and users, to reflect on your own work, tasks, and outputs, it will be more conducive to you to understand the “meaning of work” and help you to organize from yourself to end usersProcesses and business links.

  According to the JCM model, this can effectively improve your “job integrity” and “job importance.” On the one hand, it can help you improve your sense of meaning and happiness; on the other hand, it can help you think clearly about your positioning and better understand the business logic behind it.

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  Specifically, let ’s ask a few questions about your work:

  1. How does it sell?

  How can it be applied in practice? What is its final form? What is the use case? Can it be combined with something else?

  2. To whom can it be sold?

  This question will prompt you to change your perspective, from “creator” to “user”. Specifically: Who might need it? What problems can it solve for them? What advantages does it have over other similar products?

  3. How much can it sell?

  This question can make you think about “added value”. Help you understand: what is the demand for it in the market, and what value can we give it. Whether this business model will work for a long time. and many more.

  You don’t have to be able to answer these questions. But in this way, you can exercise your business thinking and let your eyes not only stay in front of the “parts” but also think about the “big picture”.

  Whether you want to rise in the company or develop your own personal brand, market thinking and business sense are extremely important.

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  4. Form a partnership with the company

  What about the companies that pay us?

  Someone talks to you about “loyalty,” “dedication,” and “wolfness.” I hope you’re thinking about the company everywhere. It’s best to avoid overtime pay for 996. Some people tell you that the company is the way the capitalists squeeze you. Pay attention to your position.

  I don’t agree with either view.

  In my opinion, what is the most appropriate way to think of a company? OnePartners doing things.

  Specifically, there are three things:

  • The goal is the same: the company’s goal and philosophy are the same as yours, and you are willing to help the company make the cause bigger and cultivate in this field;

  • Expectation gains: In this process, you can get what you want in return. It may be experience, works, achievements, fame, or economic benefits;

  • Equal pay: In order to get a return, you give the company the same pay. It neither takes advantage of the company nor excessively “dedicates” it.
    

    This is the best professional attitude. Once you think in this framework, many problems will be solved.

    For example:

    Should I work overtime? —— If the project you are doing is helpful and growth for you, then there is no “overtime” because you are fighting for yourself.

    Should you switch? —— First look at whether the goal concept is consistent, then look at what you want to get, and finally see if your effort is “not equal.”

    Which offer do you choose? —— First look at which position can give you what you want, and then see which position you have the higher bargaining power.

    …

    Many people may not quite understand: partners are equal relationships, but how can the company that pays me be equal to me? It is actually very simple: the essence of cooperation is the exchange of resources. If you have certain traits and capabilities, and the company needs them, and you are willing to pay them for it, then a cooperative symbiotic relationship is established.

    I hope that this will help you think about future planning: Instead of thinking about “how can I get a promotion and raise salary”, why not think about “how can I develop my ability and continue to deepen the cooperation with the company”?

    Based on your career, look for peers, get what you need, release sincerity, and achieve goals together. Working with this mentality and thinking will be less troublesome.

    5. Clearly positioning yourself

    Finally, let me mention briefly: increasing “freedom” does not mean exploring and learning aimlessly-everything should be based on your positioning as much as possible.

    How do you sort out your positioning? I said in a previous article: McClelland divides human motivation into three categories: achievement motivation, influence motivation, and affinity motivation.

    People with high achievement motivation like to show their talents and overcome difficulties; people with high influence motivation like to direct others to achieve goals; people with high affinity motivation like to make “more people happy”.

    Corresponding to these three, I divided different people into three categories, respectively:

    • Creator: People who like to polish high-quality products;

    • Leader: a person with charisma and influence who likes to lead a team;

    • Connectors: People who like to link different individuals and meet each other’s needs.
      

      These three types of people have different ways of doing things. Take freelance as an example: Also as a self-media, creators may be better suited to stand alone and be a KOL; leaders may be more suitable to form teams and produce high-quality content products; and connectors may be more suitable to gather many People, forming communities, salons, clubs.

      So, ask yourself these questions first:

      • When did you have the strongest sense of accomplishment?

      • When you do something, it is most likely to produce a flow state?

      • What do you do best and what can you do better than others?
        

        Then use this framework to classify and sort out the answers, and see if you belong to the creator, leader, or linker.

        The one that suits you and gives you more freedom is better.

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        Okay, sum up.

        To make the future better, is it necessary to do freelance and start a business? Neither is it.

        We can prepare for the future by improving “degree of freedom”.

        I hope that after this epidemic, everyone can think better about their careers.