If you don’t want to be suddenly eliminated, I advise you not to be “too professional”

At the moment of the COVID-19 epidemic, many restaurants have been forced to close their doors, and they don’t know whether they will survive the epidemic. Even if the epidemic is over, there is no guarantee that it will return to its previous business conditions. But some restaurants are even more miserable. They can declare their position in advance before the epidemic is over.

Cantonese people are famous for their love of food. Everything that flies in the sky and crawls on the ground can be put on the tables of the Cantonese people. Among them, "eating snakes" is a nourishing and healthy dietary custom for Guangzhou people. As the saying goes, "When the autumn wind blows, three snakes will get fat." R Ji, which has been popular for 30 years, is a snake-eating restaurant in Guangzhou.

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 struck the country, and the source of the virus was pointed at “wild animals.” As a result, national legislation has been enacted to "comprehensively prohibit illegal wildlife trade and eradicate the bad habit of overeating wild animals." The list of "forbidden animals" is likely to include soft-shell turtles, snakes, frogs and other animals. As a restaurant that "specializes in snake feasts," R's future is in jeopardy under a ban.

When being interviewed by the media, the boss of R Ji sighed and said helplessly, "R Ji will support and cooperate with the country's legislative requirements, but the operation and decoration of each branch have always focused on the theme of snake-eating culture. , when everyone talks about R Ji, they will think of snake-eating experts. It will be very difficult to transform now, and we don’t know what to do next.”

When we lament about R Ji’s dilemma, we can’t help but sigh. I have to ask, isn’t it a good thing to be professional? Professionalism is the foundation of our lives. We have always respected professionalism and craftsmanship, and are proud to be industry experts. However, when a crisis suddenly strikes, professionalism becomes a stumbling block for us?

(1) Under black swan events, the more professional you are, the more vulnerable you are

Rare and unpredictable emergencies, we call them "black swan" events, were discovered in Australia Before the black swan, almost everyone believed that swans must be white. Just like the current pneumonia epidemic, none of us could have predicted its emergence and caused a series of chain-reaction damages that caught people off guard.

In ordinary days, R remembers that with his "snake-eating" expertise, he has won word-of-mouth and reputation in the industry, and also made a lot of money. This is where his professional advantages come into play. , guarding this move, R Ji can be said to be invincible in the world, and you can sit back and relax.

However, with the sudden arrival of the "black swan" of the pneumonia epidemic, R Ji's greatest advantage - his professional "snake eating" - suddenly turned into his worst disadvantage. As soon as the state bans the martial arts, it is very likely that they will immediately "abandon their own martial arts". I must have never imagined this tragic result.

In the world of martial arts, many top masters have their own unique moves, and this single move alone is the best in the world. For example, "Xiao Li's flying knife is a good example." We might as well imagine boldly, what if Li Xunhuan suddenly realizes that the "Little Li Flying Dagger" is missing when he is preparing to send out this sword? Is there any "Xiao Li's second move"?

Sometimes, in the face of an unstoppable crisis, the more professional you become, the more vulnerable you become. Because the current professionalism will become a burden in adapting to the new situation. Being overly professional shows that you only have this choice and no other choice, and you will become very vulnerable at this time.

(2) The development trend of the times, eliminating majors that do not adapt to the development of the times

As the times continue to advance, some majors with declining demand will naturally be eliminated. If we still stick to This type of profession will surely be abandoned by the times.

The American Kodak Company is a world-renowned camera company. In the 1990s, people liked to use film cameras to take photos. Film photos that now look slightly yellowed have left us with many beautiful and precious memories. Kodak film was a household name at the time. Kodak's film sales accounted for 2/3 of the global market share. Among the top 10 brands ranked by brand companies, Kodak ranked 4th, and was the well-deserved overlord of the film world.

However, with the advent of the digital age, digital imaging technology has had a direct impact on traditional imaging technology. People have replaced their photography tools with digital cameras that are easy to carry and can take pictures and delete them at will.

Although Kodak also foresees that the traditional film business will continue to shrink and it is necessary to transform its business, Kodak's decision-makers believe that film is its professional brand and are worried that the transformation will affect the sales of film, so they have not dared to develop vigorously. Digital business.

As a result, after 2000, the global digital market continued to grow rapidly, while the global demand for color film began to decline rapidly at a rate of 10% per year. In 2012, Kodak declared bankruptcy.

The former overlord of the film industry has never been able to escape the development trends of the times. Therefore, it makes no sense to stick to a major that does not adapt to the development of the times. Times have abandoned your professionalism, and you don’t even know how to say hello.

(3) The dilemma of personal professionalism is just a screw at best

No matter how perfect a person is in his professional development, he is just a screw, because you Only a single skill can only play the role of a screw. Although screws are professional and easy to use, they will always get rusty one day, or their functions can no longer meet the requirements of modern new machines. When it no longer has use value, the screw that plays a specific professional role is destined to be ruthlessly thrown into the trash can.

Some college graduates are very lucky to have entered a large company right after graduation. They go in and out of 5A office buildings every day, doing their best and most professional work, and their salary is not low among their peers. salary.

However, they who call themselves professionals may have never seriously considered a problem: a large company is like a huge, tightly assembled machine, and every employee is a professional screw in it. Every employee can maintain the normal operation of this big machine of the company by performing their duties properly.

For this reason, large companies have extremely clear division of labor and responsibilities for each department and even each position. For example, the position in the finance department responsible for invoice processing may not need to do accounting. A clear division of labor and dedicated people doing specialized tasks is a good thing for the company and makes management easier.

However, for the development of employees themselves, in the long run, their skills will inevitably become single, and those who post invoices will only be able to post invoices forever. When our screw reaches a certain age, it is in danger of being replaced by a new screw at any time. This is what happens when you become “too professional.”

Becoming a professional is certainly a good thing, especially if you develop a rare skill, it will become more valuable in the workplace. However, we must also be wary: becoming “too professional” will also block our potential development paths.

How can we prepare in advance to deal with the risks brought by "professionalism"?

(1) Maintain a sense of crisis and avoid becoming a perfect screw

For individuals, we must always maintain a sense of crisis, because a "black swan" event may occur at any time It happens that a single professional skill does not necessarily guarantee that we can survive the crisis safely. "One trick can eat you all over the world" sometimes fails. Just like the unique "cooking snake" trick of R Ji, a snake-eating expert, it has become very troublesome during this epidemic.

At the same time, those of us in large companies must avoid becoming perfect screws. In a comfortable working environment, you should take the initiative to learn more professional knowledge and skills. Even if you are suddenly replaced by the company one day, you still have survival skills with you. To be able to do this, the premise is that we must first have such a sense of crisis.

(2) Develop side jobs

Previously, there were voices on the Internet against "slanted youth" doing side jobs, believing that they were not doing their jobs and seriously affected their regular jobs. You can’t do your job well, so you still want to make extra money secretly?” However, under the pneumonia epidemic, how many people are trapped at home, companies have laid off employees, and personal income has dropped significantly, or even zero income. If at this time, we can have another side job as a backup option, we will not fall into the miserable situation of "unemployment and loss of benefits".

We can see on some writing public accounts that those account owners who make a living by writing still produced many online articles while they were at home during the epidemic. Their income was not affected, but increased, because they also I developed a side business of teaching others to write and shoot vlogs. It can be said that a side job can become a necessity for each of us, especially under the influence of the "black swan", people with a side job can still survive tenaciously.

Therefore, don’t look down on those “inclined youths” who are brave enough to develop side businesses. They are not only doing it to make some extra money, but also to try out more different careers on the basis of their main business. Developed a second major: plan B.

With plan B major, it can actually assist the main major to develop better, and it also meets the needs of the development of the times. For example, in current new media writing, online writers also share their professional experience through online space based on their professional expertise, gaining the love of netizens and increasing their influence in a specific field.

(3) Establish multiple sources of capital income channels

Luo Zhenyu put forward a point of view: Our income can be divided into two parts, one is called labor income and the other is called capital income. , of which labor income accounts for 73% and capital income accounts for 27%. When capital income gradually exceeds labor income, we can basically achieve financial freedom.

We don’t know when our profession will become obsolete, and it may even become a stumbling block to our survival. In addition to developing side businesses, we should also establish multiple sources of income for ourselves, especially sources of capital income, such as deposit interest, financial management income, etc. Even if our profession unfortunately declines and the development of our sideline business is not very successful, capital income can help us survive the temporary crisis.

Therefore, in ordinary days, we must learn to prepare for rainy days and establish multiple sources of capital income. Learn more about financial management and establish good habits of regular savings and financial investment so that your capital income can continue to increase. When one day our capital income exceeds labor income, then we can truly sit back and relax and enjoy our after-sleep income.

Professional experts who have been deeply involved in the industry for many years will also become vulnerable in the face of "black swans", so we cannot just immerse ourselves in a single major forever and become "too professional".

The best way to deal with "black swan" events is to prepare for the worst, make the best preparations, develop side jobs outside of your major, and also establish multiple sources of income for yourself. Only in this way can we not be afraid of the vagaries of the world and still survive.