This column is titled after my book Out Of Syllabus, an actionable guide to career planning and success. The essence or the core message of the book is about planning one’s career instead of letting it happen by default. The ‘Three-Bucket’ theory will help one do that effectively.
A brief summary of this theory is as follows.
A typical career spans three decades plus starting from the 20’s and going on till the 50’s. These thirty odd years should be split up into three buckets or segments of ten years each.
In the first bucket, one needs to focus on learning
This learning should be all encompassing and not self limiting in any manner. One should have an open mind and learn about the working styles, organisation styles, people, communication, teams, practical tips, etc. In short anything new and unknown needs to be explored and learnt in depth. Herein exists an inherent trap.
Most educated people who start their career have spent their past decade and a half learning or rather studying. Often, they mistake this studying to be a substitute for learning and more dangerously act as if there is very little if at all anything left to learn.
I quote an old Tamil adage - “What one learns is usually a fistful, whereas what is left to be learnt is an entire universe”.
Anyone operating with this thought during the first-bucket period would stand to benefit immensely when it comes to the other buckets.
If there has been extensive learning in the first bucket one would be clear about their strengths and weaknesses. They would also be in a position to judge which of the learnings can be leveraged better for their personal success.
Most importantly, the initial bucket would have given them clarity with regard to what they aspire for and would like to do.
Leveraging all this should be the focus of the second bucket
Therefore, one should work towards becoming an expert in their chosen field and industry.
Becoming an expert requires one to have extensive and intensive experience in the field of choice, spanning first-hand front line experience to overall strategic exposure. This gives one a true perspective and makes one an expert as also brings about a deep rooted maturity with regards to their expertise.
If these two buckets are managed well and one develops true, deep-rooted expertise, the third bucket is the easiest part of a successful career.
Third bucket of expertise
In this bucket, one needs to work towards personal branding by sharing their expertise in public forums and be known for their expertise. When this is done properly all kinds of success including materialistic success follows even if one does not wish for the same.
Needless to say, this is a brief essence of the three bucket theory but it is a good starting point for those who would like to plan for a successful career.
The only caution is with regard to mixing up the focus areas of each of these buckets. Although learning is a lifelong process and will continue in all the other buckets too, other aspects of the second and third bucket might not be relevant during the first bucket.
Plan away!
To read more from the Out of Syllabus section, click here .