Reinvent Your Career Through Necessity for the New Work World
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a well-known proverb credited to the Greek philosopher Plato. It means, roughly, that the primary driving force for most new inventions is created from a need. It’s interesting that on the day of this writing, March 7, a very important invention was granted a patent in 1876. Alexander Graham Bell, on March 7, 1876, received his telephone copyright. Only a few days later, he made the first-ever telephone call to Watson, allegedly uttering the now-famous phrase, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” He worked hard to develop something out of a need he had which had a more cosmic application, the need for communication.
Bell’s interest in sound technology was deep-rooted and personal. His wife and mother were both deaf. His invention of the telephone revolutionized communication as we know it. He created numerous techniques to help teach speech to the deaf and even worked with well-known author and activist Helen Keller.
I think we can all agree, that often when put in a difficult situation, one is likely to be inspired to create a novel or ingenious solution. My first book, “Revolutionary Recruiting,” was born out of a difficulty and written to try to help others never get to the horrific situation a person very close to me experienced. Since February of 2020, we have all had to try to create unique solutions to our own personal and professional lives. I think this pandemic has created a need for all of us to “reinvent our mindset,” especially in regard to how it relates to the New Work World.
While Bell is typically noted for his revolutionary inventions, and quite frankly there were many, he’s also remembered for what he said and wrote.
Let’s take a look at some famous quotes attributed to Bell and investigate how they might relate to the New Work World and how we might garnish our own solutions to some of these profound changes we are all experiencing.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
Many doors have been closed to us in the last several months. We have lost jobs, the salaries we were used to, the camaraderie of friends and co-workers, and a way of life that we essentially knew for a long time. We can focus on what we have lost and agonize repeatedly about it, or we can look at how we have had the time to reflect on many things we may have been too busy to consider in the past. New doors may be open to us now. We just need to get our mindset turned around and perhaps surround ourselves with people, tools and ideas to get us to where we need and want to go. We need to reinvent who we are and become our own mothers of invention for our lives and work worlds of 2021 and going forward.
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
We would all like to wave our magic wand and have success instantly appear, but we all know it doesn’t work that way. We have to make a determined effort that we are going to prepare ourselves for future success in the work world. The first step in any long-lasting change is awareness. We do have a New Work World that requires us to get prepared now to navigate our careers in the right manner. It’s like being the pilot of our own lives and having the training to fly our personal planes above the clouds for a smooth ride to increase our odds of a safe landing. None of us want to crash on our way to our new destination. If we don’t have the right training and preparation to help us on our journey, we might have a delayed arrival that prevents us from so many exciting and new experiences. We have to create the right plan to maximize successful results.
“Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.”
In these ever-changing and competitive times, make sure you surround yourself with people who can help you facilitate this new “reinvention of self” that you are embarking upon. There are more online classes than ever before available to you. That community support and sharing of like-minded situations and ideas is a step in the right direction to achieve our goals. There are many people in situations that we are able to learn from by looking at what they have experienced and take what we need from where they have been in order to make our future journey easier and more successful.
“The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.”
It’s interesting when you read any famous person’s autobiography you clearly see that something that was uncomfortable, changing or painful in some respects, in their life, forced them to take action. Just like with Bell having a deaf mother and wife, his quest to investigate avenues of communication spurred him on to make one of the most revolutionary inventions of all time. Nothing is usually going to spur us on to make changes if our comfort level is not somehow disrupted. It’s when we are forced or “shoved” out of our comfort zone like we have been with this pandemic and the ramifications of Covid-19 that we are forced to consider taking action. A determined spirit to take your own actions will help you achieve the success going forward you are looking for. It is when we realize there is no going back that we are forced to move in a new direction.
“The inventor looks upon the world and is not content with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees; he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by ideas. The spirit of invention possesses him, etc.”
You may be one of the fortunate ones who has not lost a job, had a salary cut, or realized any significant changes to your work world. Perhaps you can expand your career to improve your job, the company, the experience of the customer, clients, etc., to make an even bigger impact going forward? This is an excellent time to reevaluate the job you have had and how it might improve and become better for a greater result.
“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” and we all are presented with the necessity of change in the New Work World. How will you “reinvent” yourself to have an even better experience in your life going forward? In difficult times, our survival instincts kick in to create opportunities to change for each of us. Maybe it is an invention of types, or perhaps new methodologies and techniques to upgrade old jobs or antiquated ways of doing things to become much more successful, resourceful, and efficient. This is an opportunity to brainstorm and initiate new plans to move the New Work World forward. What necessity is evident in your life as you plan to reinvent you and your career? What plan of action do you need to take to make that happen?
Faremouth & Company® will be offering a series of webinars and workshops to help candidates of this New Work World open new doors and get prepared for more success going forward. This can be achieved by aligning yourself with others in the workshops that may be instrumental in having more positive experiences on your career journey by assisting you to take action and building more confidence in your skill set. Your participation in the workshops will be “giving back” to others while receiving information that will allow you to thrive and grow. An important component of these workshops is to grow a greater awareness of who we are in order to know what we want.
Our first FREE webinar was held on Zoom from 6-7 pm CST on Friday, March 12th, followed by a 2-day Workshop Intensive on Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14 from 1-4 pm. More classes are on the way!
Just like the words of Alexander Graham Bell on that exciting day to make that first call on his newly invented phone, he said “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you,” Faremouth & Company needs you to come to these workshops. Experience tools that will help make your own discoveries of self to expand your career in 2021!! Make that call to yourself to register for our exciting classes NOW!
(Some of the research for this article was taken from “History.com Editors” presentation, Nov. 30, 2019).
Mary Ann Faremouth has been a regular contributor to the USA Daily Post since April of 2020.
