Salma Mallouk

Imagine this, someone studied finance for 4 years. After 2 years of traineeship, this person realizes it is not what they want their lives to look like. They don’t want to wake up in 10 years and dread going to work. So this person has two options. Number one: to continue working the job they hate because they’ve invested time and money already (sunk cost fallacy). Number two: to build up some savings and quit the job they hate. Which one would you choose?

Sunk cost fallacy

Choosing number one in the previous paragraph is not that strange. There is a thing called the sunk cost fallacy. Asana describes this as

"our tendency to continue with an endeavor we've invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits." 

Now, this mindset can keep us down in many aspects of life. Think about it, when a business has made a big investment but after a while, it has been made clear that there is no profit to be made. It wouldn’t make sense to continue with that project. So why would you continue with a project in your personal life?

Don’t look back, you’re not going that way

The first thing people would do is regret the choices they’ve made. “Why did I choose that specialty? I am so stupid.” But, why would you want to look back? The time has already passed and there is nothing you can change. So have no regrets but also don’t hold yourself back just because you have made the “wrong” choice in the past.

Take what you need

The best thing you can do is learn from that situation. So what if you are choosing a different path now? You can take all the previous experience with you. In your professional career, you would be much needed in a different sector because you bring new knowledge to that environment. You see things from a different perspective and you add value to the company. You can take the experience and expertise with you and apply it to another field.

Allow space for other things to grow

Once you are ready to turn the page and try something new, you must allow space for it. That means you must let other things go to make physical and mental space for new opportunities to arise.

Image: Unsplash, Alwi Alaydrus

This blog post explains why having a high failure rate leads to success. Well, you might be thinking: “You don’t ever want to fail in your job” but out-failing your competition actually leads to more profit for your company for several reasons. Most of the content is inspired by Law 21 from Steven Bartlett’s book The Diary of A CEO

Ice skating

The ones who learned how to ice skate when they were younger remember that the first thing they teach you is to fall. You have to fall a couple of times on the ice to become comfortable with falling. The same holds in business. You first have to learn how to fail to do your job properly. Now there are two kinds of failures. The main difference is that you can come back from one failure and you won’t be able to return from the other failure.

No failure, no story

As much as we would like to think failure comes easy. Humans are wired to expect to do everything right the first time. But how boring would that be? And more importantly, if you don’t fail, you won’t learn anything. In life, you learn from your mistakes. Thomas Watson the former president of IBM said:

Every time we moved ahead in IBM, it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put their head on the block, and try something new.

Furthermore, how can you discover what the customer wants if you don’t experiment? We live in a fast-paced world where the needs of the customers constantly change. No matter your industry, you have to keep up. And to keep up, you need to try multiple things to succeed. For example, when a company is building a ‘new app. They won’t build the app immediately. First, they will ask the customer what they want, then they build a prototype. Afterwards, they go into the testing phase where they have many iterations. Eventually, the prototype has become good enough to launch. Even after the launch, you need to update that app because they continue improving the software.

Failure is invention

There is a page in the book: Diary of a CEO. Jeff Bezos explains why a high failure rate is crucial for a business. “One area where I think we are especially distinctive is failure. Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment. The difference between baseball and business is that baseball has truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1.000 runs. This long-tailed distribution of returns is why it’s important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments.”

Are you curious about the other Laws in the book Diary of a CEO? Click here for my summary!

Source image: Unsplash, Getty Images

In the previous post, we discussed why life is a never-ending journey. Now that we know that, we can make decisions accordingly. Some people might not realize that their life changed and they continue doing the same things. But rather, when you take ownership of your life, the quality of your life improves drastically.

Where are you headed?

Life is made up of infinite possibilities. The only question is … Where are you headed? Have you decided where you are going? Or have you let other people decide for you? Right now, is the time to take action. There is a great quote from the book “Whatever you think, think the opposite”

Everything we do we choose.
So what is there to regret?
You are the person you choose to be. 

Ready, set, action!

The pressure to choose the right path can feel heavy whenever we need to decide what’s next in our lives. For me, at least, it did. Especially as an adult, you feel like you have to make the right decision straight away. But the truth is that you can change your mind as much as you like and that there is no “one right career path”. The right path will be made clear once we take steps in any direction. I’m simply asking you to make a decision and reflect along the way.

Source Image: Khyta

We live in a highly technological world. And it doesn’t matter in which industry you work, or whether you are an entrepreneur or you have a 9-5 job. Creating (and maintaining) a personal brand is essential. Previously, when you applied for a job, people gave lots of importance to your resume. Now, the first thing people do is google your name and look at your LinkedIn page.

Personal brand over skills

I believe that most people can learn almost anything. And with technology and online platforms, you can even learn a new skill from the comfort of your own home. You (mostly) don’t necessarily need an education from a fancy university to get the job you want. Now don’t get me wrong, when you want to become a surgeon or an architect you need to gain years of education and experience. But lately, there have also been lots of new roles which require you to be more creative. Those skills can be learned. Whether you want to work in finance, or marketing, or try programming, you can find a course online.

That’s why your personality and character are crucial. Because if anyone can learn anything, you need to stand out in other ways. When a company is hiring, they will first look at your resume. But more importantly, they will ask you questions regarding your character. They want to know how you will handle difficult situations and whether you can work in teams for example.

Great things happen when you least expect it

Now that you’ve built your personal brand online. You can even go a step further and showcase your personal brand offline by attending network events. Another great perk of having an online (offline) presence is that you might receive an offer when you aren’t even searching. Just imagine, you attend an event or give a talk about something you already do within your current job. Let’s say you are a project manager and get invited for a panel conversation about leadership. Someone in the audience has their own business and they struggle with getting everybody within the team on the same page. Afterwards, they approach you with an offer to consult their team. How great is that!

You become better for it

If you could take one thing with you from this post. Then please let it be this: by building your online/offline presence you become better for it. By creating a personal brand, you have to present yourself constantly. Whether you attend events, socialize, or write about your expertise, either way, you improve skills like presenting and writing. But you also get to perfect the story you want to tell. As a result you become better at pitching your ideas because you become more of yourself.

To end the reasons for personal branding, here is a video that explains the benefits of personal branding from Steven Bartlett. Link to video.

Source Image: Blazs Ketyi

There is an African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In this life, we need to have a team. And a team works best when all the team players have synergy. In this post, I will explain why the concept of Ubuntu is crucial for a team.

The playbook

I discovered this word through the Netflix series: ” The Playbook “. In this series, a couple of coaches tell their stories. One of those coaches was Doc Rivers. At the time he was the coach for the Boston Celtics and the players were all just thinking of themselves. In Basketball, the ego plays a big role. To win a championship, he needed the team to play together as a team. One evening a woman walks up to him and mentions the concept of Ubuntu. He looked it up and was hooked immediately.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an African way of life that holds the value of the group in great regard. The saying goes:

This way you hold each other accountable. But more importantly, you help each other when needed. Doc Rivers translated this to: “I can’t be all I can be unless you are all you can be”. So for the players needed to be at their best game, they needed their teammates to be their best too. As a consequence, they regarded the team as a family and really looked out for each other on and off the field. As a result, they got better as a team.

Not only on the field

Now this is great for a sports team to win. But Ubuntu can also be used in “real life”. Just consider how many teams you’re part of. Family team, friends team, work team. Whether you’re a manager or part of a team at work, you have a responsibility to the team. Now I’m not saying work your ass off for the company until you burn out. But rather, what can you do for others within your team so that they can perform at their best. And therefore you can improve your “A” game.

Source Image: Unsplash, Ian Macharia

Imagine choosing one craft and dedicating your professional life to perfecting that craft. The Japanese lifestyle called Ikigai supports this mindset. And here is what we can learn from it. Once people find their Ikigai, they spend their entire lives perfecting their craft.

Finding you Ikigai

Similar to Dharma the concept of Ikigai contains four principles; What I am good at, What I love, What the world needs, and What I can be rewarded for. Nowadays there are so many different options in jobs and careers that it can be difficult to choose one. And the question is: “Can we have it all?” But the answer to this question is saved for another time.

Regardless of whether you want to do several things in your career or focus on one thing. You still have to start with becoming better at one craft. Take, for example, the best athletes in their field or artists. They might have talent but they also work their asses off.

Reaching a state of flow

It is no secret that when you try to be the best at something, you need to put in lots of time and energy. More importantly, while you’re working on that craft, you need to be completely focused. Some call this state “the state of flow”. In this state, you lose sense of time and get completely hooked by the thing you are working on. It could be, music, drawing, cooking, writing, creating, weaving, or anything else.

The motion picture “Soul” describes this state of flow visually. Joe Gardner is a music teacher but has dreamed of playing piano on stage. In the clip below, Joe can audition for a gig. At first, he is caught off guard a little. But when he plays the piano, he reaches that state of flow.

Attention to detail

Attention to detail is crucial to becoming the best at something. Take the well-known documentary of Jiro Dreams of Sushi where chef Jiro Ono provides his customers with the best sushi possible. In his restaurant, they pay attention to every detail while preparing the food. They even have a technique for how to massage the octopus.

Where else do we recognize perfecting a craft?

Not only in the Japanese culture do we see the art of perfecting your craft. With the project of One Square Meter Berber, artist Minah Abourzahra connects women from the Amazigh in Morocco with Dutch designers. She celebrates the craft of weaving that has been in the families of these women for centuries. The women explain that when they make a rug, it becomes part of that community. Because the craft of weaving is woven into their lifestyle. It also brings the women together.

Another example is Zazi Vintage. Jeanne de Kroon was forming a fashion brand centered around women’s collectives, artisanal crafts, and our connection to earth. In her quest, she discovered the Saheli Women organization in India. She partnered with the women to co-create collections. I quote from the Zazi website: “The inherent circularity and connectedness to nature, community and culture that Jeanne discovered in the first collaborations would inspire a growing vision to platform and celebrate artisanal craft, nature, and weaving women’s narratives through cloth.”

Source Cover Image: Unsplash Alva Pratt