In order to make substantive changes in your life, you must start with dissatisfaction in your current position, and leverage that tension to your advantage. Tension and dissatisfaction will push you forward, as they are the drivers of most of our everyday actions. By constantly creating pressure in your life, you motivate yourself to make necessary changes and bring yourself closer to your goals. Implement dissatisfaction in a way that empowers you to go in the direction you want.
Repeat work is always more valuable to you than one-offs, however well-paid they may be. Companies succeed or fail depending on their ability to generate repeat business. Repeat work grants you more options and control over your life and actions. Even work with a lower salary, which might not initially seem appealing, can be beneficial if it promises repeat jobs.
Perceptions matter more than facts; others’ perceptions of you, your perceptions of others, and how you control both are the most important aspects of your career. Realize the power of perceptions in your life and use them to your advantage. Aim to control and shape the perceptions that others hold about you by shaping the image that you project to the world.
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In this article Harrison discusses the importance of focusing on your success. If you think about your losses, you will put your focus there and continually be losing. Nothing is more important for your life and career than focusing on your wins. If you do not focus on your wins, you will have nothing to build on. You absolutely must focus on your wins and not your losses. Stay focused on your successes—no matter how small—and do not focus on your losses at all. Forget about your losses and concentrate on what is going right and what you are doing right. Think about this and build upon the things you are doing best.
In this article Harrison discusses the reasons why the best executives are so highly paid. According to him the main reason for this is that exceptional executives are rare. A top executive has to make numerous decisions and calculations whilst taking every factor into account each day. There are very few people who have the capacity to organize people, increase productivity and profitability, all while facing criticism and driving a company forward. The survival and prosperity of a company depends on having people who can give good orders – and have them carried out by others. Those who can lead groups typically are the highest paid people inside corporations and groups. The highest paid executives are able to implement and get things done; the lowest paid typically are not able to do this.
Never try to be someone who you are not, or something that does not match your natural gifts and skills. Embrace your skills, whatever they are, rather than rejecting what you are good at and setting yourself up for unhappiness. Find your true gift, and run with it.
Successful people manage their minds well; your mindset is the prime determining factor in anything and everything that happens to you. Just as you strive to become and stay physically fit, you must ensure that your mind is stable and moving in the direction of your goals in order to achieve happiness.
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of encouragement. If you look at most successful people, somewhere in their background there is someone cheering for them and believing in what they can accomplish. When people take the time to encourage and believe in us, they are giving us one of the greatest gifts we can receive. When we believe in people and what they are capable of accomplishing, it can change their lives. Consequently, these people rise to a higher level of achievement than what they might have experienced without our involvement. We become a voice in the background, whispering words of encouragement into their ears. Make others better off in the world by virtue of having met you, and having related to you. Your goal should be to make the world a better place, and it all starts with making sure you encourage others.
Many people have a single weakness that they have failed to address, which holds them back in their careers and leads to job hopping. Job hopping indicates that something is wrong with a person’s attitudes and outlook rather than with their employers. Identify and fix the things that are holding you back rather than leaving your position when you should not, and much more success and happiness will come to you.
Everyone experiences ups and downs in their lives. Every problem and struggle you go through in your life is an opportunity to improve, to become stronger and to help others (and yourself). Use the problems you experience as a vehicle to grow and become a better person.
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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