As career coaches supporting people transitioning into the job market, we often find ourselves asking these questions:
How do I instill hope in these young leaders with so much uncertainty around? Entering the job market in Africa used to be hard at the best of times, so what do I say when McKinsey analysts estimate that the livelihoods of 150 million Africans are now at risk because of this pandemic?
One of the myriad of things that has made the pandemic so hard for everyone is the loss of control as well as the prevalence of hopelessness. This microscopic threat has lead to macroscopic disruptions that are limiting our options in life, and the sense of helplessness can be stifling. Worse, it can be paralyzing. Recently, I’ve been hearing one version or another of this phrase, “I stopped applying for jobs because I figured all companies are on a hiring freeze and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
This has inspired me to write today on regaining your sense of agency, because think about it this way, the moment you give your power away, the pandemic wins.
Start Small and Focus on Your Environment
I’ve written before about building a new routine for this pandemic and sticking to it, but what makes the practice relevant to this post is it helps you start small. What tasks you put on your to-do list is up to you as long as you start feeling in control again. Have a checklist that you can tick off at the end of the day.
Also, agency begins with what environmental stimuli you let into your mind. If you spend your entire day on social media checking every #covidrelated item, does it surprise you that you’re overcome by an overwhelming sense of doom and gloom?
Remember that what you can really control right now: searching for and applying for jobs despite their scarcity and despite the competition, upskilling by taking online classes, nurturing your current relationships, and finding creative ways to build your network without in-person meet-ups.
Also, to help you increase your agency, escape overstimulation – or at least manage that. You can start by exercising in nature as research has shown that exercising can help you improve your memory and concentrate better. Alternatively, turn off your phone notifications while you work as research has shown that having a phone present while you work interferes with your capacity to think. Most importantly, please, please, please get off twitter.
Unsubscribe from your Self-Limiting Beliefs
Everyone has that self-talk ticker running all the time at the back of their mind, and a lot of times it’s shaped by your self-limiting beliefs, which are those beliefs you hold about yourself that may limit your progress in life. Many of them were defined by the people around you; your family, teachers, peers, and society at large. They seep into your mind through various life experiences and become version zero of your in-built software. For example, you might think that you’re not good at science because you’re female, or you’re not good at networking because you’re an introvert or you’re not going to get a job because, “Well, Covid.”
So before you even reach out for an opportunity, you stop yourself because you feel like you’re not good enough. In other words, before someone else rejects you, you reject you. Alongside your confirmation bias, which is your tendency to search for evidence to support the beliefs you already hold in your mind, you end up self-sabotaging.
A lot.
So start by challenging your self-limiting beliefs and unsubscribing from them, one by one.
As this is a post about building a sense of agency, act on this by writing down in a journal what self-limiting beliefs you already have that is getting in the way of your progress, find a peer and work together to challenge them. (ALX YL’s are invited to send their responses to my work email while others can email me directly at amina.hs.islam@gmail.com).
Be Entrepreneurial and Become a Problem Finder
Not all jobs and industries are going to be impacted the same way. According to this report, the biggest impacts in terms of loss to GDP are reductions in household and business spending (about 50 percent), disruption to supply chain for key inputs in machinery and chemicals (about 30 percent), and tourism (about 20 percent).
But crises always bring with them opportunities. With remote work becoming a thing, we can anticipate global opportunities pouring into the continent. Also, there are many traditional non-tech enabled businesses that are trying to figure out this ‘Digital Transformation’ thing so it’s up to you to both identify problems that need to be solved, and work on solving them.
Reid Hoffman’s book, The Start-up of You presents an interesting quote by Muhammad Yunus that goes like, “All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves, we were all self-employed … finding our food, feeding ourselves. That’s where human history began. As civilization came, we suppressed it. We became “labor” because they stamped us, “You are labor.” We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.”
He adds to it by writing, “All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA, and creation is the essence of entrepreneurship. ”
So create something.
Sit with the fear but don’t let it take the wheel
I know the world is scary right now and it’s okay to be afraid.
But it’s not okay to let the fear take control of your life.
The best piece of writing I read about this was in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic, where she addresses Fear directly, “There’s plenty of room in this vehicle for all of us, so make yourself at home, but understand this: Creativity and I are the only ones who will be making any decisions along the way. I recognize and respect that you are part of this family, and so I will never exclude you from our activities, but still—your suggestions will never be followed. You’re allowed to have a seat, and you’re allowed to have a voice, but you are not allowed to have a vote.”
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