InValuable – I

Who is invaluable? Someone who is extremely useful. Maya beautifully points out 10 skills that we need to master to become invaluable employees.

Skill 1: Developing owner mentality. Treat yourself as the owner of the business, not as an employee. Being an owner helps you go the extra mile. You care more about the things you are in charge of. Personally, I faced a problem with it as I used to wonder if I act as an owner I end up investing more time in work. That’s where another skill recommended by Maya comes into play(Skill 3). When you own it you become a more responsible team player as well as a leader.

Skill 2: Become a lifelong learner. After finishing college when was the last time you picked up a book or took a course to level yourself up. We all love our comfort zone. But progress is in expanding the comfort zone not staying stagnant in it. The tricky way to learn is to follow your role model and learn from them on Twitter or Instagram or LinkedIn. It’s the best time to learn from your role model. Let me know whom you have been following these days.

Skill 3: Focus on Making an Impact: Not all of our work is of the same value. We need to make economical choices. We need to learn to say no to a few of the projects where there is no impact and that’s how we create the balance. Maya missed a family get-together years back organized by her grandmother. Later she learned to filter out the projects which really matter and spend more time with family.

Skill 4: Be an Opportunity Digger. There is always an opportunity out there. The onus is on us to grab it or let it go. Figuring out the ones just next to us is our responsibility. Connect with peers to know more about their work and collaborate with them that’s how you create a new opportunity out of nowhere and learn new stuff. It’s a great way to experiment to figure out what’s next.

Skill 5: Become a Fixer. Identify the pain points and simplify them. That’s how you make the work easier and simple. We love simple and easy stuff. How to be a fixer? Look for alternatives. Think of the worst possible solution and iterate it. Develop lateral thinking. 

We must not get stuck to the rule book. We’ll discuss the remaining skills tomorrow! Stay Tuned. Thanks to Maya for sharing her invaluable experience with us. Look forward to more such learnings from you 🙂 You can buy the book here.

Which book have you been reading these days? To grasp more from the book me and Anurag are creating a small virtual book club to have an open discussion about the books so that one can grasp more from it. Click here to join!

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