You will come across both people who believe in you and those who do not in your life; it is vital that you surround yourself with those who believe in you and what you can achieve. The beliefs of others dictate what ends up happening to you, so it is equally important to avoid those who do not believe in you. Define yourself in terms of the person you want to be, and start acting like that person.

Protect your reputation at all costs, and do not let false rumors or information about you to stand uncorrected. You do not want people to spread negative information about you in the workplace; not only can such rumors impact your current job, but also your future employment prospects. Negative rumors must be stopped as soon as you become aware of them.

In this article, Harrison discusses the interesting concept of the fox and the hedgehog in association with your job search. The fox is intelligent and crafty and it can do many things at the same time. On the contrary, the hedgehog is an animal which knows how to do just one big thing and it is considered the more powerful animal. What Harrison means to put forward is the fact that those who do one thing well is more valuable and wanted than those who can do many things not so well. This is what separates those who make the biggest impact from all the others who are just as smart. Any person or group of people who achieve greatness in any calling generally do one thing in the best possible way. Harrison advises that to be good at your job and your job search, you need to bring a singular focus to it. Hence, you need to do what you do as well as it possible can be done.

In this article Harrison talks about making rules that represent success and not failure. You make rules and interpret the things happening around you accordingly. Rules control how you feel about yourself. You need to have rules for your life and career that empower you. Your rules for what it means to be successful will largely control how you feel about yourself and your job. People who feel the most successful typically have the fewest rules. If you set rules for yourself that are easy to meet you will experience lots of fulfillment. Use rules to make yourself happy. A person who has the least stringent rules to meet is the happiest. You need to feel good about your life, so do not allow your rules to hold you back.

In this article Harrison discusses the importance of investing in the backstage of everything you are doing. Nothing is more important than what you do behind-the-scenes, and the substance that goes into your job. Only with a good backstage can you achieve your full potential in anything. Most successful people and businesses always have a very strong operation behind-the-scenes. It is not what people see when they look at a storefront that matters; it is the “substance” of what is going behind-the-scenes. It is like this with you and your profession as well. The ultimate product that you produce will be more a product of what you do “behind-the-scenes” than of the actual service that you provide. It is important to understand the significance of this, because it can mean the difference between great success and failure. Only with a good backstage can you achieve full potential in anything.

Complexity is the enemy of businesses and individuals, preventing people from reaching their maximum potential. You must control and minimize complexity before it controls you, and instead sharpen your focus on your career and life goals. Learn to concentrate on the task in front of you and minimize distractions, and you will better serve your career.

In this article Harrison discusses the importance of putting your efforts in the right direction. The most important decision you can make is deciding where you are going to put your effort. If you choose the right field for your efforts, you will frequently be richly rewarded (even if you do not have a lot of skill in the field). When you identify something that the market wants, and provide it, then you can frequently do quite well—even if you are not particularly skilled. It is just a question of being at the right place at the right time and taking action. In your career, very little is more important than where you choose to focus your effort. Nothing is more important than working somewhere with opportunity and where you are being carried away by the wind of a positive economic current.