In this article Harrison discusses the importance of putting your efforts in the right direction. The most important decision you can make is deciding where you are going to put your effort. If you choose the right field for your efforts, you will frequently be richly rewarded (even if you do not have a lot of skill in the field). When you identify something that the market wants, and provide it, then you can frequently do quite well—even if you are not particularly skilled. It is just a question of being at the right place at the right time and taking action. In your career, very little is more important than where you choose to focus your effort. Nothing is more important than working somewhere with opportunity and where you are being carried away by the wind of a positive economic current.
Do not convince yourself of your own negative traits. We often adopt negative characteristics rather than positive ones to excuse ourselves from things we find unpleasant. If you are always seeking comfort, though, you will most likely be left behind in your life and career. You must identify and abandon the negative traits you have adopted for the sake of comfort, and don’t shy away from the pain that may be associated with adopting a more positive personality trait
In this article, Harrison discusses the interesting concept of the fox and the hedgehog in association with your job search. The fox is intelligent and crafty and it can do many things at the same time. On the contrary, the hedgehog is an animal which knows how to do just one big thing and it is considered the more powerful animal. What Harrison means to put forward is the fact that those who do one thing well is more valuable and wanted than those who can do many things not so well. This is what separates those who make the biggest impact from all the others who are just as smart. Any person or group of people who achieve greatness in any calling generally do one thing in the best possible way. Harrison advises that to be good at your job and your job search, you need to bring a singular focus to it. Hence, you need to do what you do as well as it possible can be done.
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You cannot create alibis for your life and hope to achieve anything. Rather than spend your time creating alibis, use this time to address the reasons you haven’t yet reached your full potential. Interestingly, people who fail to achieve what they want are always making excuses as to why they do not succeed. The world does not care about your reasons for failure, it only cares about results.
In this article Harrison discusses how your problems can help you move forward. Most of us are never satisfied with what we have and we are continually seeking more and more of what we do not have. Harrison points out that problems in life are in a way special gifts which force us to move ahead. They are a much-needed drug. They seek to challenge us and keep us on our toes. Embrace your problems. Problems create energy and energy creates change. You feel the best when you were working through some challenge, with a solid goal in mind. Problems are the fuel of our life.
Opportunity used the wrong way can destroy everything. Cheating, even in small ways, can add up to cause ruinous damage. You must account for every action you take with your employer and in your life, and realize that every action carries consequences. With so much invested in your job and career, you must act with integrity in everything that you do rather than risk the consequences of taking the easy way out.
In this article Harrison explains why it is important to stay away from the social side of the office. If you are spending time with negative people inside the company, the implication is you may share their opinions as well. This can create huge problems for you. You need to realize guilt by association can hurt you. You are at work to make a living. You can choose to get involved in the social side of the office and watch your career stall. None of this is to say you can’t be friendly with your co-workers. However, you should not participate in the social network of the office too much. The social side of the office can be fun but more often than not, it can cause you far more problems than it is worth.
If you wait for the right market conditions to begin your job search you will face more options, which in turn will help you make better decisions. When the market for your product is strong, you have much more negotiation leverage and are much better positioned to get what you want. Market conditions, therefore, give you a compelling advantage. When do you begin your job search, make effective self-promotion a top priority and draw as much interest as possible to yourself; surprisingly few people do this, and dong so will vastly increase the number of offers you receive.
In this article Harrison discusses that in order to really advance in your career and life you need to improve the quality of your work. The more you stress quality in your job, the more you will continuously improve. The better the quality of your work, the more you will be valued by your employer. When you do the best work you can your co-workers also respect you more and you have employment security. When looking at employers, you should also concentrate on working for those whose quality is getting better and better. The better the quality of the product the business is producing, the more opportunities they are likely to have in the future for you. The better the quality of your work, the more opportunities you are also likely to have in the future. Make quality your first priority.
In this article Harrison explains how you can ensure success in your career by externalizing your opponents. Your job is like a game; if you work hard, play by the rules of the company and are seen as part of the team you will be viewed as a valuable player for the company. The most significant part of any game is the presence of an opponent. Don’t look for an opponent among your co-workers. Never speak negatively of your team members. Instead, concentrate on the external opponents. External opponents bring you and the team closer as you work towards a common goal. In order for you and your company to succeed it is important to have an external opponent. Harrison advises people to consistently work hard and not participate in the politics. This is a sure way to score big in your career.
True self-esteem comes from within, not from the acceptance of others. When your sense of worth comes from within, you free yourself from comparisons with others and will enjoy a greater sense of internal security. You will no longer be bogged down by the experiences of others and can become much more self-reliant.
Your greatest successes will come from some of the smallest actions in terms of meeting people. You will cause a “stacking effect” the more you meet and connect with people; conversely, people cannot connect with you when you are withdrawn and nothing will happen. You must do everything in your power to connect with as many people as possible.
A powerful sense of self will make all the difference in your life. You must understand that your sense of yourself and your capabilities come from inside of you, not from the external forces that have brought you to your current place in life. What you feel internally might be completely different from what the world is telling you, and you must learn to focus on the former rather than the latter.
Adopting a positive attitude will always bring you closer to success, as nobody wants to be associated with a losing side. Everyone wants to associate with and hire winners, and avoids losers. Nothing is more important than maintaining a positive attitude, as many employers hire people based primarily on attitude; with the right attitude, everything else will fall into place. You must look like you are on the winning team, even if times are tough; nobody wants to hire a loser.
Everyone tries to maintain a certain emotional state, and learning to control your own emotions will have a profound impact on your career. While everyone allows their emotional states to be influenced by outside events, there is no advantage in basing your own emotions on things that you cannot control. Allow yourself to discover happiness and fulfillment naturally, rather than making your emotions dependant on external circumstances. Your outlook will have a tremendous impact on your psychological health, as well as that of those around you.
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