Future-proof your career and ensure you stay valuable in your work.gettyYou hear constantly about how fast the world is changing, but all the changes are especially important because to maintain success, you must stay relevant; keeping your skills up to date, applicable and polished. This can be challenging, but it’s possible to stay valuable in your work and future-proof your career with pragmatic approaches. When you future-proof, you enhance career stability and job security. Importantly, Monster found that 57% of people plan to stay with their company. This was linked with the sobering fact that 40% expect the job market to worsen and 52% expect layoffs. With these expectations, it’s no wonder that staying relevant is on our minds. And while career stability is important to all generations, Gen Z and Millennials are actually prioritizing it over fast career progression, according to a Deloitte report of 22,595 people across 44 countries.How to Future-Proof Your Career So here are pragmatic strategies to future-proof your career. 1. Stay Curious Strikingly, 66% of managers and 59% of employees say their skills aren’t fully relevant anymore, according to data from TalentLMS. And 38% of managers say they’re not even sure what skills will be necessary in the next 12 months.MORE FOR YOUThe best way to respond in the face of this uncertainty is to stay engaged and vigilant in your work processes. When you’re immersed in your work, you can be aware of what’s easy for you and what elements of the work create new challenges. The factors that are tricky are clues to the skills you must develop. In addition, read books and articles, listen to podcasts and follow thought leaders. These will help you understand the market and what will be necessary to succeed going forward. 2. Stay Connected Success will be based on your ability to connect and build relationships with others who will help you, guide you and provide information about job opportunities. And successful people are also inspirational in terms of how they achieved so much. Identify colleagues you’d like to emulate and study what they do including how they relate, solve problems and show up. Watch, listen and learn from them. Perhaps they are brilliant at expressing themselves, listening to others or navigating conflict. Or maybe they are ninjas with tech, AI, finance or analysis. The capabilities you admire in others are the skills you can prioritize and develop in yourself. Also stay connected by inviting people for coffee and asking good questions about their career journeys. Offer to help others in your organization so you have the opportunity to work together in meaningful ways. This can be one of the fastest ways to build authentic relationships as well as credibility. 3. Stay CompetentDecide that you must always be learning. Rather than developing a skill and then relaxing while you wait to pursue more growth later on, adopt an approach in which you’re always seeking the next skill or developing the next capability. Set small goals for what you’ll learn next. Find opportunities to attend sessions through associations or groups outside the organization or take online classes your organization offers.Also emphasize learning in the midst of your work. In the TalentLMS report, 70% of people said they don’t learn practical skills fast enough. In order to increase the velocity of your learning, volunteer to contribute on the project that is unfamiliar to you or the portion of an initiative that will require new skills. Learning in the midst of delivering results is a fast path to expanding your capabilities.4. Stay CompellingAnother surefire way to stay valuable is to cultivate interest in your work. When you’re interested, you’re more likely to be satisfied and engaged and this makes you compelling to your employer because you’re delivering value.In addition, a new study from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that when you’re interested in your work, you’re more likely to be satisfied, so you’ll get a payoff in your own wellbeing and fulfillment.5. Stay CreativeAlso be sure that you emphasize adaptability, resilience and the ability to respond. No single skill or set of skills will ensure your success. Achievement will require new combinations of competencies; from human and people skills to AI and technical skills and everything in between. Your best success will come from the command of meta skills like the ability to stay aware of what’s going on, invent new solutions, creatively adapt and persevere.Skills like perseverance will increase your value and accomplishment, but fascinating research also finds that perseverance reduces depression, anxiety, panic and mental disorders. This was according to a study of more than 3,000 people over the course of 18 years published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.Embrace Stability You can create your own career stability and ensure job security by developing your skills, staying interested and developing your resilience and perseverance. In a world that’s changing fast these will offer significant advantages and fulfillment as well.