This New Year, Listen to Your Heart

If you’ve been doing something for years, you eventually become very good at it. You become known for it. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔.

Because while you continue to grow: take courses, earn more degrees, reskill, upskill, learn entirely new domains: at the workplace, you’re often still seen doing 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.

You could be an accountant who understands strategy.

A finance professional pursuing marketing.

Someone with years of experience and a fresh, trending perspective.

However, within the organisation, the label persists.

Organisations still tend to view people in fixed boxes based on what they 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆, rather than what they 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆.

Experience, ironically, becomes a box instead of a bridge.

In India, we often discuss the demographic dividend, emphasizing the need for opportunities among young professionals.

Yet a large number of experienced professionals in their 30s, 40s, 50s are often under-utilised, not under-qualified.

Over 53% of graduates and 36% of postgraduates are underemployed in jobs below their qualifications.

Only about 4.7% of the workforce has formal skill training, contributing to an underutilised labour force.

Even after retirement, many senior citizens still want to contribute meaningfully.

They have decades of institutional memory, decision-making wisdom, and problem-solving skills.

However, the system mostly asks them to step aside instead of taking a different approach.

When organisations don’t tap into the full potential of experience, they lose twice: once by not leveraging what people already know; and again by ignoring what they are still capable of becoming.

Yes, experience 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 be your biggest asset.

But when it becomes the only lens through which you’re seen, it quietly turns into a limitation.

According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Work Change Report, by 2030 as much as 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, reshaping how organisations view talent, roles and experience in the future.

This means that experience shouldn’t be a label that limits you, it should be a foundation for ongoing evolution: the kind that helps you grow horizontally as well as vertically in your career.

If 2025 offered us a Big Idea for 2026, it is that the future of work won’t be defined by what you’ve always done, but by what you can keep becoming.

Growth sometimes simply means being allowed to evolve within one.

Talent doesn’t expire. It just gets quieter when it’s not heard.

PS: This New Year, listen to your heart.

Where did you find your peace?

Where did you find your peace?

For me, it was never lost—it was waiting patiently within.

Stories have always been my quiet obsession—a language I’ve spoken since I can remember. They’re how I connect with people, ideas, and even myself.

Last year, I poured this passion into three incredible projects: contributing to an academic curriculum on storytelling, contributing to meaningful research, and crafting an identity for a startup. Each of these projects motivated me to think differently, apply my creativity, and leave something meaningful behind – all while continuing to do what I was doing.

But, like all good stories, there’s a twist.

There was a time—not too long ago—when I poured my energy into spaces that felt like planting seeds in barren soil. No connection—just silence.

I kept overextending myself, hoping to create something meaningful beyond the routine. But all my efforts seemed to vanish into thin air. It was disheartening.

But then I chose to do it by myself – and for the ones who actually cared.

And this became one of my greatest lessons.

It taught me that 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 we invest our time, ideas, and passion matter as much as 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 we create.

The curriculum I contributed to was a collection of stories crafted to create lasting memories that were engaging and loved by all. The research wasn’t just reading and data collection and analysis—it was a purposeful narrative. And the startup branding? It wasn’t merely advice; it helped shape the vision for someone’s dream story.

And through it all, I learned a profound lesson:

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅.

Don’t just give your best; 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 your best. Start by looking within, for in the mirror of your soul, you’ll find the peace that was always there—reflect it and watch it shine.

As this new year begins, here’s to more stories that matter, more collaborations that feel like magic, and more moments that remind us 𝒘𝒉𝒚 we started in the first place.