People tend to follow the norms for their chosen profession; your own success depends on your ability to step outside of these norms and create your own rules. You must take charge of your life in order to reach your full potential. Be unique, and stay constantly aware of what other opportunities exist. You need to make your own decisions and gain the experience that comes with success or failure.
Your thought process is a powerful determinant of your success or failure. Find a connection or unifying bond among the millions of thoughts that cross your mind every day, and use them to the greatest possible effect. Rather than dwell on negative thoughts that could undermine you, strengthen your mindset by asking yourself empowering questions; you will find that the answers to these questions constitute excellent career advice.
Several years ago a long-term relationship I was in ended and I felt absolutely terrible: the person I was with could not stop fraternizing with other men. At least a few times a week, she would be out with a different man and say it was related to work. We lived together and she would come home late – sometimes she would make excuses that she was staying with friends and would not come home at all. Eventually, I was so angry about this all the time that the relationship ended.
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In this article Harrison discusses that you need to pay the cost if you want to have the life and career you are capable of. There are a lot of people who are not willing to pay the price for the things they want in their lives. People are unwilling to pay the price to advance in their careers. They want a shortcut. They try to make a quick buck instead of providing long-term value. You need to be willing to pay the price to do well at anything. Most successful people pay all the prices to get ahead. You have to give your job everything you have, you have to create value, and then you will be rewarded accordingly. Everything costs us something.
In this article Harrison discusses how fear of criticism prevents people from living up to their full potential. Harrison believes that the biggest achievers in our world are the people who are not afraid to act and are not afraid of criticism. The skill of finding a job is dependent upon not caring what other people are saying or will say. The less you fear criticism, the better job you will get. You need to lead and not follow. People who follow the rules and spend their time wondering what others will think rarely achieve very much. The winners in this world are the ones who are acting despite what others may say, or are saying. The losers are the ones who are paralyzed with fear and afraid to take action because of what others may say.
It is important to have a career that makes you happy, rather than pursuing a career simply because you or others think that you should. Life too short not to be doing the things that you really want to do with your life. If you do not yet know the kind of work that makes you genuinely happy, you need to go and find it.
In this article, Harrison explains what actually happens with attorneys during a recession. On studying this aspect, Harrison discovers that jobs involving transactional work slow down in comparison to litigation related jobs. Similarly, there is a dramatic fall in corporate, securities, and real estate related jobs. Even patent work enters law firms relatively slower than when the economy is bustling.
In this article Harrison talks about the huge fundamental mistake that most people make with their lives. They base their future on a “big win” outside their control. In sales it is not uncommon for people to put all of their efforts into trying to close “one big deal” and exclude other small deals. When people put their efforts into this sort of thing they get lucky sometimes … but most of the time they do not. Everyone does this sort of thing to some extent and it needs to stop. Many people are continually basing their future on “a big break” or some sort of “breakthrough” happening in their careers and lives. Slow and steady generally wins the race. You need to invest in what you are doing over time.
Use your past, rather than some unattainable ideal, as the yardstick for measuring progress in your life and career. The most successful people are also often the most unhappy, because they measure themselves against impossible ideals, which causes a constant sense of inferiority. There will always be someone better than you, and there are ideals all around you against which it would be unrealistic and stupid to measure yourself. Instead, compare yourself only to the person you were before; measure yourself against your own progress, and forget about others.
In this article Harrison discusses that you absolutely and positively need a mission and it is going to change your life. When you find something you are good at, and approach it like a mission, everything changes. A mission is much more powerful than being good at lots of things. Employers want to hire people on a mission. Your career needs to be a mission. This is the most important career advice you will ever receive. The highest state of work is when you are on a mission. The difference between having a job, or career and having a mission is huge. A mission will propel you forward. A mission will bring you everything you ever wanted. A mission will open up opportunities and will transform your life and career. There is nothing more important than a mission. You need to be on a mission.
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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