Feed Your Craft

In the COVID crisis many jobs have changed with people working from home and using more technology. Many jobs have become redundant with robots replacing them especially in manufacturing. Many more changes are yet to come.

How does one prepare for such a scenario to continue to grow professionally ?

Only one answer – feed your craft. Train yourself to be world class.

We are going back to the world where we will be paid as craftsmen and craftswomen – for our output and not for our time.

Our direct output will become more and more a function of our expertise and skill set. What we can do and directly contribute.

So everyone needs to develop a craftsmanship program for themselves. Lets answer 3 questions

Where can I add value and what can I do ?
On a scale where 1 is beginner and 10 is world class where am I today ?
What needs to happen for me to at 10 ?

For instance if you are in marketing this may mean absolute mastery over digital marketing including social, SEO, performance marketing. If you are in sales it may mean mastery over online lead generation, winning deals over zoom calls and developing a strong B2B profile as an expert by writing blogs etc. If you are in manufacturing it may mean mastering a specific software or technology or a specific area of manufacturing.

Once you define the area you want to be a world class expert in then you work on creating a craftsmanship program

What online / offline formal courses can you take
What are the leading certifications in the industry
Who are the leading bloggers / youtubers in the space you can learn from
How can you get some live projects to work on
Is there any opportunity in your workspace to get more exposure to this space
Can you find any experts to mentor you
Can you do a side start up to experiment and learn

Use this to develop your craftsmanship program. The goal is to be world class in the space that you chose. As Cal Newport says, be so good they cant ignore you.

All of our roles and jobs are changing.

Many are at risk.

This is a moment of deep change. We need to embrace it instead of running away from it.

Just as in the old times the cobbler, the painter, the poet, the goldsmith, the mason were paid for their work and rewarded handsomely when they did something exceptional so will we be.

What is your craft ? what craftsman do you want to be ?