Everyone is an entrepreneur

Everyone is an entrepreneur. When humans still lived in caves, we were all self-employed, foraging for our own food and being self-sufficient. That was the beginning of human history. With the advent of civilization, we suppressed this ability and became "laborers" because they labeled us as "you are laborers." So, we forget that we are entrepreneurs. —Muhammad. Yunus Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Everyone is an entrepreneur, not because everyone should start a business, but because human beings are born with the will to create in their genes. Just like what Yunus said, our ancestors who lived in caves needed to be self-sufficient. They invented the rules of survival and created their own lives. But after being baptized by civilization, we forget that we are entrepreneurs and behave like laborers.

To adapt to today’s challenges across professional fields, we need to rediscover our entrepreneurial instincts and use them to build new careers. Whether you are a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher or an engineer, or even a business owner, today you need to think of yourself as an entrepreneur in charge of at least one new venture, and that new venture is your career.

Escalator careers no longer exist. For centuries, immigrants risked everything to enter the United States, convinced that if they worked hard, they could enjoy a better life than their parents' generation. In the past, every generation of Americans generally earned more, received better education, and enjoyed a better standard of living than the previous generation. This expectation of continued progress from generation to generation has become part of the American Dream.

Over the past 60 years or so, the job market has been an escalator for educated workers. After graduating from college, you first find an entry-level job at a company such as IBM, GE, or Goldman Sachs, where you receive training and guidance from your employer. As you gain experience, you move up the organization, and your junior positions are filled by ambitious freshers.

As long as you perform well, you can rise steadily on this escalator. With each level you advance, your power, income, and employment security will also increase. Finally, around age 65, you step off the escalator, let mid-level employees fill the senior positions you vacated, and enjoy a leisurely retirement funded by company pensions and social welfare benefits. Of course, everyone does not assume that all this will happen naturally, but it is generally believed that as long as you have the ability, coupled with moderate efforts, and if you are lucky, you will eventually climb to a high position. Generally speaking, this is a reasonable expectation.

But now, every step of the escalator is jammed with people. Just like reporter Ronald. Bronstein mentioned in the Atlantic Monthly that many young people have received the highest education, but are stuck at the grassroots level and are overqualified or have no employment opportunities. At the same time, the number of men and women aged 6 and 70 who are either continuing to stay in the workplace or returning to the workplace has reached a record high, facing insufficient pension funds and a loophole-filled government welfare system. This has resulted in the middle-aged workforce having no prospects for promotion, and the worst-case scenario, they have been squeezed out of the workplace to make room for more senior talents. Nowadays, it is difficult for young people to get on the escalator, it is difficult for middle-aged people to get promoted, and it is difficult for 60-year-olds to retire. Bronstein pointed out: "Everyone is no longer promoted smoothly, but tramples on others."

Traditional Career paths no longer exist, and you can no longer expect your employer to pay to train you to improve your communication skills or expand your professional skills. Nowadays, even for entry-level employees, the company expects you to be competent immediately when you arrive, or to learn quickly and get into the situation within a few weeks. Whether you want to learn a new skill or perform better at work, training and investing in yourself now becomes your responsibility.

Part of the reason why companies don't want to invest in you is that you're unlikely to commit to staying at your job for several years, and you'll have several different jobs throughout your life. In the past, there were long-term agreements between employers and employees, with lifetime employment in exchange for lifelong loyalty. This type of agreement has now been replaced by performance-oriented short-term contracts, and both parties will continue to review whether to renew the contract. As best-selling author Daniel. As Daniel Pink puts it, professional loyalty now flows "parallel" among your connections, rather than "vertically" to your boss.

The traditional career development route has been overturned. One of the reasons is the trend of interaction between globalization and technology. You may think this is overstated, but the long-term effects of these trends are actually underestimated. Technology has enabled the automation of many jobs, including jobs that previously required hard-earned knowledge and skills, such as high-paying white-collar jobs such as stockbrokers, legal staff and radiologists.

Technology also creates new jobs, but the pace of creating new jobs is usually slower than the rate of replacing jobs, and the new jobs usually require more advanced skills. Even if technology doesn’t eliminate or change the skills needed in various industries, it will make it easier for companies to move jobs overseas, allowing people from around the world to compete for your jobs and driving down wages. Trade and technology didn’t appear overnight, nor are they going away anytime soon, but our job market has changed forever.

So, forget about traditional workplace perceptions! The rules of the game have changed.

"Prepare, aim, launch" has been replaced by "aim, launch, aim, launch". Waiting until you are unemployed or dissatisfied with your job before looking for a job has been replaced by always paying attention, creating opportunities, and arranging social interactions. It has also been replaced by smart networking.

There is a growing gap between those who understand the new rules of the workplace and have the skills to function in new functions in the global economy, and those who cling to old-school thinking and rely on ordinary skills. We are all "work in progress"

Technology companies sometimes mark the software as "beta version" for a period of time after it is launched to indicate that the product is not yet fully completed and is being improved in the next stage. Gmail, for example, launched in 2004 and didn't come out of beta until 2009 when millions of people were using it. At the end of every year’s shareholder letter, Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon Online Bookstore, reminds everyone as he did in his first letter in 1997 that it is still the “first day” of the Internet and Amazon: “We are very excited. Optimistic, but we must remain vigilant and urgent at all times.” In other words, Amazon is never finished, it’s always day one. For entrepreneurs, "done" is a taboo word, and they know that great companies are always evolving.

Everyone should regard "done" as a taboo word. We are all "work in progress" and every day is an opportunity for us to learn more, invest more and grow more in our lives and careers. . You should keep your career in a perpetual testing phase, forcing you to admit that you still have flaws and still need to improve, adjust, and evolve. Still, this is optimistic thinking because it emphasizes that you still have the ability to improve yourself and, therefore, the world around you.

Andrew., Director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis. Hagadon points out that for many people, “20 years of experience” is really just 1 year of experience repeated 20 times. If your career is perpetually in beta, 20 years of experience is truly 20 years of experience, as each year brings a wealth of new challenges and opportunities. Eternal beta is actually a lifelong commitment to continuous self-growth. The truth is actually very simple. Either you are busy living, or you are busy wasting your life. If there is no growth, it is degeneration; if there is no advancement, it is retreat.