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.
There are advantages to both time economy jobs and productivity economy jobs. Time economy jobs pay you for your time spent on a project regardless of your productivity, while productivity economy jobs pay you a fixed amount for a given task. Success in the former depends on your ability to look busy and deliver the level of productivity expected of you, while the success in the latter depends on doing as much work as possible. Determine which of these two types of jobs most suits you, and focus on that type of work.
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In this article Harrison discusses the importance of imagination and visualization. Harrison believes that the most important skill any of us can master is creative visualization. Creative visualization is the art of creating pictures in your mind of something you would like to happen in the future. There have been an incredible number of studies that have confirmed the power of positive thoughts. You can get tremendous amount of strength and power from visualizing positive as opposed to negative results. Therefore it is crucial that you are able to visualize positive events and outcomes. Focus on the results you want to achieve.
If you can learn how to create work for yourself, you will never be unemployed or lacking for excitement in your life. You must learn to use your mind to create work; if successful, this ability will come to define your life and career because outside circumstances will no longer matter to you. The world will work for you, rather than the other way around.
Get your employer to commit to you, and keep coming back again and again. This “lock in” is a tactic that companies use all the time, and one that you must practice to get and keep jobs. Make an offer to attract an employer, and then make yourself indispensable. People who fail to lock in their employers are usually the ones who find themselves laid off.
In this article Harrison explains how unlearning can make us happy and help us grow. One of the most important forms of growth is unlearning. All learning we do, in a sense involves unlearning. The more we can unlearn, the more likely we are to experience the sense of growth and progress we so desire. Imagine how much more productive your life would be if you could unlearn many of the beliefs and behaviors that have caused you so much stress. You and your life would be utterly and completely transformed. This would result in an incredible sea change in the way you approach and live your life.
Come to terms with how you feel and be open about it, and you will be much less likely to be affected by your dark side. Acknowledge your deepest and most profound feelings in order to improve your career and life. Your career will never reach its full potential unless you gain control of the personal matters that are negatively affecting your life. Allow your unconscious to be conscious and face what you are avoiding deep down to achieve your potential.
Being unconscious of our surroundings causes us to miss out on many opportunities. We fail to notice many things immediately around us simply because we are not expecting them, and thus involuntarily tune out many potentially great opportunities. You must bring conscious awareness to the thousands of unconscious decisions you make in your business and personal lives. The more notice you take of the things around you, the greater your consciousness and potential for success.
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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