Can one be 'Future-proof'?

Obviously one cannot- as this quote says: Change is the only constant! However, it is very important, in every walk of life for one to try and anticipate the future, and plan to acquire new skills and interests. In other words, in a sense, you are taking out a 'job-insurance' by investing time, money and efforts into the acquisition of new skills and talents. Not only that, this is an easy and interesting way to remain involved with your job and career, and to avoid burn out.

Sometimes the pressure to enhance your skills and interests is external, but most often it is internal. At the end of the day, trying to learn new things is one way of remaining involved and motivated, and it makes life (and your career) more interesting.

How does one know what lies ahead? To digress slightly and yet prove one's point, one has the immortal quote from D Rumsfeld: There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

The only way one could make an effort to convert the unknown unknowns into known unknowns is by talking to one's colleagues, and by reading relevant journals or by attending scientific meets. Know your field, and ask yourself: What lies ahead? This is, in my opinion, one of the most crucial things to do to keep yourself abreast of new developments and trends. At the heart of all this though, there must be a burning desire to acquire knowledge and skills not for their own sake, or because of external pressure, but in reality for one's own sake: having come this far in one's field, surely, one can take the next step forward.

A slight twist to Yogi Berra's quote to end this piece: If you don't know where your profession is going, you might wind up someplace else!

In short, although one cannot be completely future-proof, however, maybe one needs to keep changing in order to remain constant!