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.
In this article Harrison discusses why your need to feel important should not be controlling you. The need to feel important is so deep and profound that you do whatever it takes to feel important. This need to feel significant controls and governs your life. For most of us, there is nothing more important to our sense of importance than our careers. The best thing you can possibly do for your career is detach from this need to feel significant and realize how this is controlling so much of what happens to you. You need to do the work you love and live the life you want without being controlled by a need to be significant. This will change everything for you and allow you to contribute to the world in a productive way.
In this article Harrison discusses why it is important to take action right away. For most people it is much more fun and interesting to sit around and dream and think about how they are going to improve, than it is to actually go out and make major improvements in their lives. The problem is very few people ever follow the course of action. It is like this for a great many of us. We would rather think and dream than act. The key to making the most of your career and life is making sure you act on what you are learning. Anyone can talk about, read about, or dream about doing something. The key is being able to take action and do it.
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In this article, Harrison explains the importance of putting in your best efforts while at work and simply not working when you are not working. This he calls ‘disconnecting’ from work. Some people perpetually work all the time, whether at office or outside it. Their minds never get the chance to recharge and their constant attachment to work proves counterproductive and is dangerous. Once outside the work place, you need to rapidly put yourself in another state of mind and begin to enjoy your life and the world around you. In this way, your mind gets recharged and rejuvenated and you can begin work the next day with a fresh new perspective. Harrison believes that you need to develop the profound ability to disconnect from work which in turn will help you to become more efficient, more detail-oriented, and more focused than an average worker.
Different results will not come from doing the same thing over and over again; to succeed, you must be innovative. Free your mind of unnecessary, extraneous thoughts and remain singularly focused on your job search. Your own instinct will guide you far better than a surplus of outside advice.
Despite the obvious advantages, getting jobs through a friend or relative may ultimately harm you. When you do so, you risk lowering your colleagues’ opinions of you, who may see your connections as evidence that you lack the skills to get your position on your own merits. Nonetheless, there are situations in which it is acceptable to take advantage of such connections, but you must be on your guard; make sure that the job you get is a good fit, and one in which you would perform well regardless of your connections.
In this article Harrison discusses the importance of goal setting. Goal setting is the single most important aspect of your career. When you look at people who are at the top of their game in sports, entertainment, business and other pursuits, you’ll generally find they’ve set goals in an outstanding way. Most successful people manage their goals in a similar way. Whether you want to be President of the United States, a first class parent, the fastest runner in the world, the head of your organization, or you simply want to feel happy and fulfilled, there are certain scientific goal setting principles you can follow to take you precisely where you want to go. Goal setting is a profound discipline. Our success, the success of entire companies and even the success of entire countries comes down to how well goals are set.
Building an “unassailable network” is the key to business success; seek out companies are either building such networks or already have them in place. Such networks help establish businesses, and make it more difficult for competitors to overtake them. If you are in a business that is unassailable by its competitors, then both you and the business can look forward to a positive long-term future.
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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