The world’s nothing if not unpredictable at the moment: global politics, climate change, the cost of living… I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to put your head in the sand about any of it.
But as fun as that might be, it’s really not the most sensible strategy you could choose to adopt.
With changes happening on a daily basis, the concept of future-proofing has never been more relevant. Every day, there are new challenges to navigate. But can you truly prepare yourself for what’s coming?
While a crystal ball would be nice, there are far more practical (not to mention realistic) steps you can take to build resilience and adaptability into various aspects of your life. So this week, I want to look at where you can future-proof your life… but also why it doesn’t always work.
Future-proof… your career
Back in the day, you’d choose a career for when you left school, and then that was it till retirement. Now, pivoting to new sectors is far more commonplace, and future-proofing your career means staying relevant in a world where some jobs disappear while others emerge overnight.
The best thing you can do is develop transferable skills that can move from industry to industry. Critical thinking, communication, creativity, and emotional intelligence are never going to go out of fashion, after all!
By the same token, you can’t underestimate how important it is to embrace new tech developments too. It’s too easy to get aged out of your own position if you don’t keep up to date with new platforms, software, trends – and whilst you might not need to update your skillset for where you are now, you never know when the rug could be pulled out from under you, and you find yourself in competition with people who’ve made it a point to stay abreast of developments.
Future-proof… your money
Financial resilience is the foundation of a future-proofed life, and there a couple of things it’s worth giving some thought to.
Firstly, diversification of investments – spreading any investments across different assets to mitigate the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket! If you’ve got all your money in one single asset, whether that’s a property, crypto, whatever it might be, and that asset goes under, you’re sunk. Spreading your pot around to different areas can go someway to safeguarding your cash.
Next, you have to think in the long-term (eg, what are you going to live on when you retire?) and, whilst it might seem dull or boring, start thinking about your pension. Do you have one with work? Are you in a position to put more money in it now, so that you’re not scrabbling around for cash in your twilight years?
It’s also worth spending some time looking at what your current cash reserves are right now? Do you have any kind of emergency fund to act as a buffer if things go sideways? If you’re living from paycheque to paycheque, it’s worth taking some time to look at what you’re spending out on, and if you can make any cuts. It can be quite uncomfortable to add up how much you’re spending and on what, but that kind of discipline will stand you in good stead in years to come.
Future-proof… your health
Your health is your wealth, but it’s something that’s all too easy to take for granted. If you’re fit and healthy now, continuity bias might make you think that you’ll stay that way forever.
Obviously, you can’t predict every health challenge you’re going to come up against, but you can build physical and mental reserves that will improve your odds across countless scenarios.
Preventative health measures—regular exercise, nutritious eating, getting enough sleep, and stress management—will build your resilience and giving you a good foundation if problems do emerge. If health and fitness is something you need to work on, think about building sustainable habits that will be easy to maintain. Think about it as an investment in yourself – play the long game so you can reap the rewards in the future!
Future-proof… your home
When I talk about future-proofing your home, what I really mean is future-proofing the value of your home (or any property asset).
Look at where you’re living now – you might be really happy with it now, but if you came to sell it, where could you add value, so that you can increase its selling price? Things like upgrading the kitchen, putting in a new bathroom, or improving the insulation in the attic and improve the energy performance of the building… all of these are things you should think about for any where you own, so that ultimately you can make a profit from them.
If you’re not quite on the property ladder, or you’re looking for your first investment property purchase, always look for ways you can add value. It’s not about buying a property just to have the rental income, it’s actually about how you can go about adding value to create equity in the deal.
Future-proof… your resilience
Personal resilience—how well you can withstand and recover from difficulties—might be the ultimate future-proofing skill. While some aspects of resilience are innate, there are many can be intentionally developed.
The things that are key to building up your resilience are:
- Perspective – in a tough situation, always try to step back and look at the situation objectively: has it impacted your health or, even worse, does it impact the health of your loved ones?
- Acceptance – you can’t bury your head in the sand over tricky situations, otherwise they’re likely to snowball into something really horrible. Similarly, you have to take accountability for situation where you have a degree of responsibility – try not to make the victim mindset your default.
- Resources – you might have lost some material resources, but learn how to stop and reflect on the resources that you do have in an emergency – your knowledge and your network. Lacking in either of these? Work on building them up now.
There’s some truth in the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’: there will always be lessons you can learn from a challenge, which you may well end up being very thankful for one day!
Ignore everything I’ve just said
Well, maybe ignore is a bit strong, but remember that perfect preparation is impossible. The world contains too many variables, interactions, and potential disruptions to anticipate everything: who would have seen 9/11, COVID, or the speed that AI has developed (and so changed the face of our working lives) coming?
Similarly, health challenges can strike at any time, no matter how well you eat, or how many times you run in a week. Without wanting to end on a pessimistic note, there’s only so much you can prepare for, and very little that you can control.
That said, it’s not entirely out of your hands. In life, you have three circles of influence: the inner circle, which is you. You’re in total control of everything going on – your emotions and your behaviour. This is where your focus needs to be. Then there’s the outer circle, your friends and family. You have a reasonable amount of influence here, but be mindful of not being controlling.
Finally, we have the great beyond, which is everything else. You have ZERO control over anyone’s thoughts and opinions here, so it’s effectively pointless spending time and energy worrying about it. Focus on what you can control in your own life, and try not to worry about the rest.
So what should your takeaways be here? Future-proofing your life isn’t about achieving perfect preparation or eliminating uncertainty. Instead, it’s about building flexible foundations across the parts of your life that increase your options when (not if) change arrives—whether that’s gradually or suddenly, welcome or unwelcome.
Remember, it’s better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it!