How to challenge yourself professionally?

Have you noticed that most people seem asleep, still… and aren’t aware of it? How many people around you have dreams and do everything to make them come true? Probably very little.

It is certainly a natural state, what we call ithomeostasisthis strange ability to maintain our habits and status quo. However, the universe was born out of chaos. And it is he who often overturns our habits and pushes us to evolve.

But if you’re a marketer, there’s no such thing as the status quo. To succeed in this industry today, you have to be a change junkie, passionate about new things, and that means fighting hard for your relevance. You have to constantly challenge yourself.

Our sector is so in motion, in constant revolution, that it is necessary not to take anything for granted and to do it compare one’s knowledge and beliefs about developments. What is true today may no longer be true tomorrow. What is trendy and recommended today can become an obstacle tomorrow.

How many times have we experienced this since the beginning of the digital age? How many practices have we abandoned along the way, how many tools, although well installed, have been replaced and then forgotten? How many relevant professionals have failed to transition to digital communication?

I have always been in a constant state of professional reinvention. This is definitely related to my self-taught status and my lack of self-confidence. Here are five ways I’ve learned to challenge myself professionally.

Become a teacher

I have found teaching, especially in higher education, to be an exciting challenge and a way to stay relevant.

The students I interact with at business school, most of them mid- and senior-level marketing leaders or future leaders of large companies and startups, are incredibly inspiring (for the most part).

If there is a current marketing topic, I will necessarily address it in class. There is a strong symbiotic relationship between teaching, content creation and business consulting that helps me stay at the top of my game.

You might not see yourself teaching in graduate school (trust me, I was one of those people!), but what about hosting trainings and workshops?

Listen at every meal with your customers or colleagues, listen to those in the field. Take note of their questions, their needs. This will allow you to stay on top of industry trends and expectations.

Think about how you might benefit and refresh your perspective if you were to prepare content to teach someone else an important marketing point.

Network away from networks

I spend a lot of time alone. This is the fate of independents but above all a way for me to really focus. I need it for thinking and writing, but my greatest source of inspiration comes from discussions with other people.

This doesn’t cause me too many problems, I’m hypersocial, this is also why I like going to work, otherwise I spend my time exchanging and discussing with everyone. Professional, rich and stimulating discussions, certainly, but all of this is not necessarily productive.

Work to develop a network of professionals around you. In Bordeaux there are groups and associations that come together and create events around communication, digital and marketing.

Connect with thought leaders to absorb new ideas. Social media is useful for this, but it doesn’t stop there. Provoking meetings in real life.

It’s a source of energy for my personal relevance to engage with smart people who work in marketing to imagine the future of our industry.

Intelligent conversations fuel personal questions.

Practice regular self-evaluation

I am in a constant state of self-evaluation: am I “stuck” in something that is hindering my progress in this changing universe?

Here are some of the questions that currently concern me:

• Time spent creating blogs instead of podcasts or other forms of content. I have been “stuck” in blogging for almost 15 years in various fields. How to reevaluate this time?
• How to write a book that is not a repetition of this blog or of books already written by others?
• How can I get my speaking career off the ground and what are the most relevant topics for this?
• Should I broaden my area of ​​expertise or, on the contrary, reorient it? I can’t be too general and survive. There are too many changes. What are my specialties? What should they be in the future?
• What should I know about Fortnite? WeChat? TikTok? These are the powerful forces of new media.

I’m constantly thinking about «Now what?» » Normally, during the quieter period of summer vacation, I spend a lot of time re-evaluating my direction. Shake yourself up by regularly questioning everything.

Connect with emerging leaders

What should I do today? Here’s one way to find the answers: people much younger than me.

Challenging yourself requires a mindset of humility. I am part of the first generation in history to look to the next generation for advice and guidance, not the other way around.

I’m not a guru. I am a student and my teachers are under 30 and often under 20. This is also why I love teaching. Connecting with younger people sharpens our way of thinking and prevents us from relying on our own experience.

Consume the right content

I do a lot of things. I’m always on the move. So I have to be judicious about my time and the content I consume.

Facebook is a waste of time. Sitcoms are a waste of time. Superhero movies are a waste of time, even though I watch a lot of them.

In general, I focus on the type of content I consume to keep me updated on what’s coming.

I rarely spend time reading an entire marketing and business book because 90% of them are built around one simple idea spread across too many pages. Once I have the idea, I move forward.

When I speak at a conference or have the opportunity to attend one, I carefully watch who is speaking and try to attend as many interesting sessions as possible.

Blogs and videos that are just “tips and tricks” won’t push you into personal turmoil. They don’t rush you. They will probably be able to give you a better “today” or make you look a little further ahead, but look for content creators who focus on the day after tomorrow, on the future of your business.

Shake yourself up by having the discipline to consume meaningful and relevant content.

Commit to making yourself vulnerable

Whether it’s attending a networking event, speaking at a meeting, or even speaking in front of 200 people, push yourself to do an activity at least once a month where you feel exposed and completely uncomfortable.

We often hear this quote:

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

You will hate every minute leading up to this event. You will look for any excuse to get out of it. You will regret putting in the effort. I know, it happens to me all the time! Whether it’s teaching a class, singing in front of 500 people or playing guitar at a concert abroad for a very demanding band, I regularly put myself in danger. I’m super motivated in that moment and regret it five minutes later when I realize what it entails.

But if you could turn off those negative voices and say to yourself, “I don’t have to be perfect at this,” you’d be amazed at how much you can grow during such experiences.

And maybe you’ll even make a mess. It happened to me. But, hey, it doesn’t matter! Everyone who succeeds has tried something… and above all, everyone who succeeds has made a mistake one day!

I would like to conclude with an important piece of advice. Learning to change is not enough. You have to live it. This can be difficult to do but it is the first step that costs money. Getting back into cycling or running is difficult… the first ten days. Then we begin to orient ourselves, to catch our breath. Ten days later, we begin to be encouraged by the first results and ten days later, we even enjoy it.

I stopped writing on this blog for almost a year for a variety of reasons. One of them is that there was a moment when I literally became aware of the implications of changes in consumption and communication patterns. I sat down and thought, “Am I still relevant by calling myself a marketer?” It was a moment in which I really felt the need for change, to question myself.

You can resist change or ignore it. But you can also let the new realities of our world slowly become part of your professional DNA, until you are profoundly disrupted in your experience and beliefs.

To be disturbed, we cannot simply read about the changes in our world and the consequences this implies. At some point, you yourself will have to become the change.

The worst thing that could happen to you is to stop. There is a phrase I like to share when I meet seniors in training or at conferences: