Three must-nots that one should avoid at any cost

More than knowing, what to do in the life to build your career or talent, it is sometimes more beneficial to know what one should never do in one's career.

As i said before the important step for you after graduating is to 'chose your talent zone'. And, as we have discussed before, it is not important that you be accurate and focused on some 'narrow' area of skill such as selling software, or selling financial solutions. One has to however prioritise and chose a 'zone' that is large enough, but not so large that one will divert one's resources on too many activities. For instance, it is important to chose 'sales' as a function and 'telecom' as a domain, if you are a E&TC engineer. But if this is choice is getting delayed for some reason or another, one should at least avoid situations that will create additional problems. I can enumerate three instances which should be avoided at any cost.

1. Be sensitive to Type 1 thinking on crucial decisions like job changes and other matters. Slow down oneself, override Type 1 mind and let Type 2 take over for a time being. Such decisions taken by Type 1 create more damage that require additional effort in damage control. When one gets handcuffed in a situation because of type 1 decision ( CA getting stuck with the situation!), one loses more time in undoing it, rather than doing something new to set one's life on new course. In my coaching experience, i have spend considerable time with coachees in undoing their past, instead of 'recreating' their future. 
2. Do not pursue acquisition of virtues and traits like honesty and confidence. This is one of the favourite goal-pursuits most of the graduates engage in. Every year, at the New year time, they make a list of new goals that they want to pursue that year. As we discussed earlier, these are 'emergent' traits that cannot be acquired by left-brain pursuits.Avoid them not because it wastes time and effort, but more importantly, one should avoid them because it gives an illusion of doing something and misleading you. 
3. Do not lock yourself in a tight compartment: Graduates, who tend to be with themselves, are most prone to wrong decisions, incompatible beliefs and incorrect conclusions, because they shut themselves from the world either by sitting infront of the computer all the time, or immersing themselves in some hobby, or doing more and more courses to occupy themselves. We need friends who can 'challenge' our cherished beliefs once in a while, who can question our habits, and who can show our insularity when we tend to become too one-dimensional. 

In the next blog, we will see the indirect ways of finding our talent zone.