Professionals define the profession

In today's world, with the surmounting amount of information flow from all directions people have a huge question on mind as to which profession to take up. Different opportunities present different scales of returns and the number of such opportunities is limited in case of those who aren't prepared and trained to enter the work world while for those who are pre-equipped, they are just too big in number and variety. Too many options only confuse our choices. Which profession to choose is of great question and the debate about the goodness and badness of a profession is never ending. That's where I need to jump in and tell that your profession can't define you; you will've to give a new meaning to the profession you get into.

I had heard my lecturer say in my college days that, "everyone is good, everyone is bad but only the percentage varies." Likewise profession is also something that's innovated by man. No profession is good or bad. It's the people in the profession who shall define the quality and fame of the  profession. Let's take two simple examples of Sir Richard Branson and Sachin Tendulkar. to understand the concept better. Sir Richard Branson is a true serial entrepreneur who has made people feel that entrepreneurship is the cloud nine of life. He has given his adventurous touch to the business world. In the same way, Sachin Tendulkar has displayed the true spirit of sportsmanship by taking cricket records to new heights which people might not even defeat for ages to come. He has inspired and influenced hordes of others to take up cricket as the profession just like how Sir Richard Branson has triggered plenty of youth to jump into the ocean of entrepreneurship and business.

We can find so many frauds and cheats in both the fields of cricket and business. Still people opt for such fields because of the personalities who have made those professions noble. Hence we must not have any bias towards any profession. We must think about what value we can add to the profession we are in and how we can influence lots more to take up the same profession and benefit themselves. Only then you become a true professional in your profession and a leader who sets new benchmarks and standards.

Test yourself

Everyone of us are put through the system of learning right from our childhood. We spend lots of hours learning new things and practising the learnt things. I am not talking about just the conventional form of education of going to school and learning. Even those who do not have the facilities to go to school learn some sort of work which they have to use in order to earn their living. Not just the children or the youth, even the working professionals keep learning new developments in their work, new technologies. To convey in short everyone on this earth is in a continuous process of learning.

 

Atleast in schools and colleges, there are regular tests and exams in order to validate the learnings but once we come out of the education system not just by age even by syllabus, whatever we are involved in is the syllabus of life. Are we sure enough that we are performing to our best capabilities in the activities other than studies. Marks determine our performance during studies but when we are in other activities there is no one to rate us by marks. We will be only given feedback which cannot measure our performance levels. Hence it is necessary for us to test ourselves regularly. We have to set the measure for the results that we expect of actions done by us. Just sharpening the axe without using it to cut the log never tells us how sharp the axe is or how much more sharpened it should be. Whatever you are doing test that activity time and again. Set a benchmark that you must touch everytime you test yourself. Life is too short to wait for the circumstances and life's challenges to test our strengths. Develop various kinds of tests to test yourself. This will not only keep you guard about your skills but also will help in sharpening your abilities.

 

Just imagine if Sachin Tendulkar had stopped playing cricket in practice matches just because he played very well in the international matches. Then Sachin wouldn't have been the Sachin we are proud about now. He practices in the nets and in practice matches to test himself as much as possible because he needs to be perfect when he is playing for his country. Likewise to be the best and the perfect in whatever you are doing test uourself regularly. All the very best.

 

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