If writing doesn’t excite you, then you are not reading enough. Once you start reading, writing becomes effortless.” This was one of the many learnings that we took from our session with Mrs Rashmi Naik, Managing Partner, Global South Continuum- LDV  at School of Communication and Reputation (SCoRe). In her one and a half-hour session, she managed to give us multiple insights, life lessons and career advice for us as PR professionals.

At SCoRe we have regular masterclasses, where professionals from the corporate communication industry come to interact with the students. Each session is unique in its own way and this one was no less. Amidst the regular talks about core PR and corporate communication, her session was like a breath of fresh air that gave very simple and important life lessons to take in and great career advice.

Following are some of the career advice for aspiring PR professionals:

• Punch a little above your weight: By this, she meant that do more then you are expected to. Move out of your comfort zone and give a little extra in whatever you are doing. Always have a disruptive element in your ideas and work, because thinking out of the box is always better.

• Being aware of technology can give you an edge: This applies to even simple things such as converting a pdf into word format. Small technological knowledge like this will make your work easier and save you a lot of time which you can spend doing something productive.

• Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity: Nothing is certain, so why don’t we stop worrying about the unknown and instead start questioning. Curiosity is the key, always ask questions. But how? and why?  just about everything. If you don’t want to disturb anybody, search for the answer, google it, but always have a questioning mind.

• Be aware of fake news: Especially in the profession of communication, be very aware of disinformation and misinformation. Use technology to verify everything. Be your own fact-checker and always investigate and research before communicating.

• Read and write in your mother tongue: It is very important to be grounded in your mother tongue, just go back and discover the love for your mother tongue. Dual language gives you an added advantage.

• Read like a maniac: Read extensively, it is going to make your writing better. Adding to this point she explained, why we should read poetry. Poetry uses very less space but packs in so much information. I will teach you a lot and will reflect in your writing. It is sophisticated and intelligent storytelling.

–Sakshi Jain (Read her full blog post here)

Related article – A Letter

She then puts the spotlight on the following life lessons:

• Build an asset: We, millennials, often stay clueless about our budgets. We are impulsive enough to spend on futile things and oblivious enough to go to our parents at the end of the month. So, we need to save a little. “Just at the beginning of every month, put a very minimal amount in your bank and in no time that will grow to an empire.”, advised Rashmi.
• You’ll fall out of love: “…and that’s okay!” I have often thought about this and panicked and I was glad when she mentioned that this was normal. If you get bored of your work that does not mean you don’t love it. When that happens, we need to find something. Something that helps us keep our sanity and then the fallen out love will restore itself.
• Take care of yourself: We, possibly, try to impress everybody. Mainly our bosses at work, our peers at social gatherings and sometimes even friends. But, you cannot satisfy everyone. That is simply not possible. Instead, why don’t we try to make ourselves happy? A little muscle tear is definitely better than a burn-and-crush-out!
• Don’t postpone on your life decisions: We often give ourselves a window of a time frame. And then we keep doing work which is not really okay and keep extending that time frame. We shouldn’t be postponing our life decisions because “No time is the correct time.” We cannot plan life according to a notebook schedule. Who knows what you miss out on the context of finding the right time?
• When should you cut your losses? We are often caught between the dilemma of leaving or not leaving the job due to various reasons. Again, we take the decision of not leaving it even if there are huge problems at work. We keep on living and working with the luggage of all those issues on our back. But is there a correct time when you can call out? Even when we think of doing it, a whole association of “how can you?” comes up. Rashmi advises us to call out and confront so that you do not regret not doing that for the rest of your life.

– Baishali Banerjee (Read her full blog post here)

While ending her session she said, “The paradigms have changed completely and the possibilities now are endless. Challenge yourself and be out there. Gain experience and learn every step of the way.”

Dear Readers,

Do share some of your life lessons learned with us!!