You must face cold, hard reality in order to truly determine your situation; despite the benefits of doing so, facing reality is sometimes one of the most painful and difficult things you can do. People do not like to admit their limitations and failures, but doing so is imperative for facing the people and things that constitute your reality. When you face reality you realize where you can go, and you gain the power to change your situation for the better.
<!---->
The Tight Spot
Several years ago, I was running a company I thought would soon have thousands of employees. Things were going exceptionally well and I...
Do not keep any secrets in your career; people who keep parts of their lives secret usually are not being the people that they want to be; you will never find happiness unless you are the person that you want to be. Avoid jobs and professions that require you to keep a lot of secrets and hide your true identity. When you live a lie, you are the only person who ultimately gets hurt.
In the job market or any other venue, getting others to sing your praises will make a huge difference to you as far as getting ahead. The best way to brag about your work is to get someone else to do it for you. When applying for a job, getting someone inside the company to speak well of you will vastly increase your odds of success, making your application much more effective than it would otherwise have been.
You must share information freely, and never hide information from anyone. When you give away all your ideas you create the need to replenish them, which opens the door to creativity and innovation. Furthermore, sharing your ideas with others give you access to more ideas. People who hoard information tend to have stale ideas because they only share or seek innovation when relevant, meaning that their own store of information stagnates.
In this article Harrison talks about the external and internal world. We have some–but certainly nowhere near total control over what happens in the external world. However, we do have control over the internal world. The internal world is comprised of our own emotions, how we think and feel about those events that occur in the external world. It is important that we do everything within our power to control our internal worlds. We should guard our internal world and take care to use it for ourselves, and not against ourselves. Problems are always going to be there. You can’t always stop them. What you can control, however, is your response to the problems that come up. Your nature of response is a key indicator to your control over your internal world and ultimately to your happiness and well being.
It is extremely important that you enjoy your job. Most people find themselves in jobs that they resent, and eventually make this resentment known by appearing disinterested and distracted. Success comes from being engaged in and grateful for your work. You can define your job according to your own vision; you can either choose to engage with your work, or avoid and despise what you do. People recognize and appreciate those who are enthusiastic about their work.
You need not only to fit in, but to be seen as fitting in with your coworkers. Harmonizing with your work environment is one of the most important things you can do for your career, and failing to do so can cause you serious problems. Achieving such harmony, however, will ultimately bring you closer to your career goals, and is among the primary things that society demands of its participants.
In this article Harrison discusses how being nice is the smartest thing you can possibly do in your career. When you are nice to people, you invite them to be nice in return. When you send out negative energy, it comes right back to you. So also when you send out positive energy, it comes back to you as well. When positive energy comes to us, we feel better and the world is a better place to us. When you are nice to others you send out the sort of energy which gets you ahead. So we need to be focused on putting out positive energy. Let the negative energy of others flow right through you and be nice in response. Companies need people who are nice. Being nice to others is the most important thing you can do in your job.
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.
Want Powerful Career Advice?
Get my free newsletter and strategies that make people successful