We may “feel” secure, relevant, and essential and perhaps we are right now. But with the tidal wave of technology that is coming our way, that could change very quickly. Technological advances continue to roll out new ways to be faster, better, more efficient, and more productive. How can we, as humans, ever keep up with the pace?

A common misconception is that this engine of progress will remain with the larger metropolitan areas and never filter down to our smaller cities of industry. But this is not true. AI makes things more productive, more efficient, and more practical in many different ways. So it is hard to avoid it if you are a business owner.

This means that all of us in the work sector, whether we are a top CEO of a manufacturing plant in a big city or a small town who serves as a legal secretary to a civil litigation attorney, must continually look for ways to keep relevant in our modern world.

As you think about your career today, consider how you can make yourself more relevant in the workforce. Analyzing your current position in your job is the first step in deciding if you need to improve your skills or add another skill set to your resume to keep yourself more current.

Follow these steps to analyze your present position in your field.

Ask yourself whether a robot or automated process could replace your job. If you do something that consists of repetitive tasks, you are more replaceable than you would be if you do something innovative or unique. Think outside the box to determine how you could make your job more critical even amid the competition from AI.

Consider which tools you use that could be improved to make yourself more productive in a shorter amount of time. Would reworking your schedule help you get more done? Something this simple often helps you become more productive without having to do a lot more than to spend more time on the most critical tasks.

Think about what software would improve your process as a human worker that might convince an employer you can outdo the automated solutions. This might seem to be an ironic fix to becoming more relevant, but there are technology tools such as software that can improve what you do without having to turn your job over to an automated process.

Consider how you could diversify what you do to become more relevant or valuable. What skillset should you add to make yourself more valuable to your employer as well as the company or firm you work with. Be creative in your thinking and brainstorm what you could do that would increase your value.

Think about how what you do is valued by your employer and consumers. How could it be improved? Think about how adding creative or artistic skills could add to the value you bring to your current position.

Focus on your talents more than your skills. Talent you are born with. Skills can be learned. While developing more skills is important, focus on your raw talent and think about what it is that you bring to your job. How do you bring something special to your work each day that a robot or automated system could never do? Revert to your most basic talents like writing, painting, drawing blueprints, and other artistic or creative talents and think about how you can incorporate these talents into your present position.

Learn to learn new things more quickly and become more adaptable. What do robots do that you can’t do? They work fast! A human being can not outpace a robot or operate with the level of perfection that an automation system in a manufacturing plant can do. We are human. We make mistakes.

Instead of trying to compete with what you cannot win, decide instead to make your current job more productive in other ways, such as offering a new plan for distribution and presenting it to your supervisor that will save him time and money.

Create a new way of collaborating with co-workers that uses brain power rather than automatic processes. Machines can not outdo these types of human mind-based activities.

Learn to operate the technology that threatens your position. Remember in the scene “2001: A Space Odyssey” when “Dave,” the pilot started disassembling the robot that had taken over and was about to threaten the entire spacecraft? You can learn to master the robotic or automated systems that are currently being used and show proof of your skills to your IT person or employer.

This may get you a job maintaining or keeping control of the AI technology once it rolls out on a higher level, keeping you in the position of “robot master”!

Learn to manage and motivate others. If you are a people person, this is yet another way you can stay relevant in your present job. People need people. Robots can’t motivate others on any lasting basis.

They may incite them to action such as the AI voices that talk to Air Force pilots in the U.S. to keep them awake or to follow additional instructions.

But bots cannot replace the human connection in helping them to reach their goals. Someone who truly cares about others and who wants to help motivate them for success will likely be rewarded in some ways and remain relevant, despite the impending automation invasion.

We hope these tips will help you to find ways to remain relevant as we see more and more automation and artificial intelligence systems coming into the workforce across the world. Remember the old saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them?” That statement is relevant (no pun intended) here.

If you can either figure out how to be more productive, efficient, creative, or original, you can become more important and relevant in your current job.

Finally, you have some time to plan as it is most likely that robots cannot currently replace you. While they outperform us in many tasks we find difficult, they still struggle with what comes naturally to us.

Creativity and original thought is something the best computers in the world cannot pull off. AI robots can “learn” but they cannot connect to or influence people with their human talents and abilities. But you can!

The most important thing is always to look ahead. Future jobs don’t look like they do now. In fact, you may not recognize them at first. You may have to create them.