You must find a job about which you are passionate, perform it with dedication, and make sure this dedication is visible to those around you. When you devote yourself to a job that you love, you open the doors for greater happiness and fulfillment in your career and life. Employers and colleagues notice those who demonstrate passion for their jobs; they naturally gravitate towards these types of people, and avoid those who take a more perfunctory approach to their work.
Use your past, rather than some unattainable ideal, as the yardstick for measuring progress in your life and career. The most successful people are also often the most unhappy, because they measure themselves against impossible ideals, which causes a constant sense of inferiority. There will always be someone better than you, and there are ideals all around you against which it would be unrealistic and stupid to measure yourself. Instead, compare yourself only to the person you were before; measure yourself against your own progress, and forget about others.
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Many people make the common mistake of making their lives and work more complicated than they need to be. Interviewer, for example, are interested solely in your fit for the job rather than long-winded stories about you. Present yourself and your skills in a simple, easy to understand manner for best results.
There are people in your life, just as in everyone else’s, who do not appreciate your talents and will seek to undermine you. You must avoid situations that place you among these kinds of people, and instead find colleagues who recognize and appreciate your efforts. Your work environment will do much to either motivate or de-motivate you, so make sure to find one that recognizes your talents.
Assessing your employers’ needs will lead you to success in both your job search and your career, so work to ascertain exactly what it is they are looking for. Once you know what your employer wants, do precisely what is expected of you and you will succeed. Determine exactly what your employer is seeking by asking lots of questions in the interview. Those who take the time to understand their employers’ needs are those who wind up with the best jobs.
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of being well-liked in your job. Being well-liked is necessary for success in any job and in advancing your career. If your co-workers or your superiors do not like you, your career in your organization may be doomed. If you are isolated from others within your organization, it is far easier to let you go in times of economic uncertainty. Harrison gives certain pointers to ensure that you are well-liked in your job. He talks about staying away from cliques, never saying anything bad about any co-worker, making your superiors feel important, listening instead of talking, participating in group activities and being non-confrontational. To advance, you need to keep out of trouble and be well-liked.
You must surrender to your profession, doing work with which you are comfortable and in which you are interested. Conversely, you have submitted to a job in which you are uncomfortable and which does not conform to your values; nobody thrives in such a situation, and such a job is unlikely to advance your career. When you hold your profession in high esteem, however, there is no need to resist your job and you can easily surrender to it.
To determine the sort of career you should be pursuing, you need to determine whether you are a tangible or intangible-oriented person. Many people fail in jobs simply because those jobs did not cater to their specific skills and interests. Tangible-oriented people seek work within clear guidelines, whereas people interested in the intangible are more comfortable around new and unproven concepts. To succeed in your career, you need to understand you inner nature and choose a workplace accordingly.
Everything happens for a reason, and that reason might lie hidden underneath the surface. Understand the root cause of everything that is happening to you and around you. When you see the seed from which the tree has grown, you will discover exactly what you should do to improve your life and career.
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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