In this article Harrison discusses why emotional connections are so important in the workplace. In virtually every company, there are people who are not needed at all but are kept in the jobs due to some emotional connection. In every industry when layoffs occur, generally the first to go are those who do not have an emotional connection to the organization. According to Harrison there is a huge value attached to having emotional connections in your job. The holiday party, invitations to spend time with your boss outside of work, and other similar occasions are extremely important because they are a chance to form an emotional connection with the people you are working with. The emotional connection will take you farther and will last longer than any other sort of connection.
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.
You will find much greater success and contentment by focusing on your connections to others rather than your differences. While all people see themselves as separate entities, you must remember that all things and people are interdependent. Your position in your life and career results from how well connected to the people around you, not your relative difference or transcendence.
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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.
When you try to mask or suppress aspects of your personality, those traits will inevitably come to the fore anyway. You need to develop a comprehensive understanding of yourself, including your darker or deeply buried traits; once you know how your dark side limits and controls you, the better you will do in your life and career. Self-discovery will ultimately lead to inner peace, which in turn will enable you to more fully develop your goals.
In this article Harrison discusses the choices that life offers us. We can choose to be average, very much like the people around us and doing just what society wants us to do. Or, we could be radically different. We could defy the trend, choosing not to play by the rules and simply doing things in a way that makes sense to us. The same philosophy can also be applied to your job search. Any innovation and deviation from the accepted norm, especially in a challenging economic environment, could prove to be a tremendously successful strategy. When you follow your heart and do what you want to do, everything changes. People who stepped out of the rat race and did exactly what they wanted to do with their lives found not only happiness, but great success.
Companies are constantly striving for greater efficiency, and jobs tend to disappear because they can be done cheaper elsewhere. Consequently, you must constantly seek to improve your own efficiency in order to retain your value to your employer. Work to always increase the company’s output at the lowest possible cost. You will succeed if you find a position where your role is tied to increasing the efficiency of the company’s work.
In this article, Harrison discusses the power of commitment. Your commitment and love for what you do need to defy explanation if you are going to reach your full potential, and obtain lasting success. We remember the people who put in incredible efforts, and these are the people who make an impact on the world. People like to be surrounded by other people who like and respect them. Those who generally do the best in life are the people who genuinely like and support others. Everyone likes to be around those who they believe will stand behind them and support them. Those who show commitment that defies explanation are liked, promoted, remembered and admired by everyone. The people who do the worst are those who are most interested in themselves. The people who do the best are those who are most interested in others.
Do not be a dabbler, or someone who turns away in the face of stress; the secret to long-term happiness is to instead confront and push through these stress factors. Do not be discouraged by difficulties, but find ways to persist and deal with the stress. Confronting problems head-on is the key to improvement, and will take you much further than the dabblers who fail to approach their careers with commitment.
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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