When I was an attorney, I stopped going out to lunch with other attorneys during the day. The reason was not that I was not hungry. Instead, I stopped going out to lunch because just about everyone I worked with would want to dedicate the lunch to a critique—whether it was critiquing our bosses, coworkers, or others. When these people were not being critiqued, the job itself was being critiqued. When the job was not being critiqued, the attorney’s home life was being critiqued.
In your job search you must question assumptions, find new ways of doing things, and consistently find new ways to search. You will be better off the more you seek out and adopt new job search techniques; your career is too important for you to be stuck in traditional ways of thinking. You must open your mind, and ensure that you are doing everything within your power to view your job search in a way that grants you more opportunities, not fewer.
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If you are good at one thing, then you need to make sure you develop a diversity of skills in case demand for your primary skill goes away. You need to shape yourself and your career to withstand all kinds of economic and other climates. Like the Greek Parthenon, you must have a strong foundation and project strength, supporting yourself with multiple pillars.
You must prepare in order to succeed in anything you undertake. The more time you plan before acting, the less time you will later have to devote to repairs and adjustments. Proper planning means that you only have to undertake a task once, rather than having to go back and repeatedly fix them. The more you plan, the smoother you will make you life and career.
Nothing is more crucial to your career success than being “in the zone”, and genuinely passionate about your work. Most people, rather than existing in the zone, merely go through the motions of what they feel others expect of them in the hopes of achieving wealth and achievement. To reach your full potential, find work that comes naturally to you, at which you are good, and that makes you happy. When you have this passion, everything else will fall into place and outside obstacles will cease to hinder you.
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 the fact that you need to have immense faith in the person you are, the talents you possess, and the purpose of your life. Absence of faith or believing that you are less fortunate than others will make you depressed, discontented, and extremely unhappy. This state of mind seldom helps in progress and affects both your personal life and career in a large way. Know what you want and where you want to go and be certain on following your heart. Trying to ‘fit in’ usually puts a lot of pressure on a person and it’s best that you avoid trying to be what others want you to be. Look into yourself, concentrate on who you are, cherish what you have, and be what ‘you’ want to be. This is the root to happiness and fulfillment.
While everyone’s respective wishes motivate them, their fulfillment seldom brings anyone happiness. Don’t perpetually chase after the next goal, but instead learn to love what you do; when you reach this state you will have chosen to be happy, you will improve yourself, and you will eventually become a happier and more accomplished person.
Russell Conwell’s fantastic Acres of Diamonds speech argues that the means for success do not require extensive searching, but are all around us. Opportunity is everywhere if you know where to look. Many times we miss opportunities that are right in front of us because we are looking in the wrong places.
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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