You need to focus on yourself and raise above the standards set by the world around you. When you live your live according to others’ expectations, you blind yourself to your genuine wants and capabilities. Stop worrying about the world and your slot in it; do what you want, the way you want, and you will be much closer to achieving greater heights in your life and career.

When faced with difficult times, you must develop the ability to transcend the trouble around you instead of giving up or assuming that nothing can be done about your situation. Keep your wits about you and take charge of the situation, and you will find yourself on track for constant improvement and career success.

In this article Harrison discusses the role of self-motivation and self management. Self-motivated and self managed people always perform well. In contrast people who are forced to follow massive amounts of procedures and rules can never perform. It is important that our rituals and sense of responsibility is internal, and something we learn to do naturally–not something we only do when it is imposed on us by people on the outside. The best people in every job are self- managed and responsible individuals. Also, the more self-managed people there are working for an organization, the stronger the organization generally is. Instead of creating problems in the workplace, you should seek out responsibilities, and ritualize your work routine. These responsibilities will drive you forward in your daily work, in your career, and in your life.

Most people are afraid of exposing themselves to failure, and therefore settle for less than what they want or are capable of achieving. Failure to take action due to your fear is itself the biggest failure of all; few people ever reach any degree of success without consistent failure. You must use failure as an inspiration to try harder in the future, and manage your emotions so as not to fear failure and let that fear preclude action.

The answers to these seven questions are essentially the same as your response to “Tell me about yourself.” You need to see yourself and your answer to every question from the employer’s point of view. Interviewers are looking for the best long-term fit for each job. Anything you say that supports this is likely to get you hired and anything that does not is likely to mean you will still be looking for a job.

Everything you do is a form of preparation for your job interviews, as you are always under some form of scrutiny. The best employees can always spot other good employees, and you cannot “fake it”; merely doing a good job in your work is a form of interview preparation. Always put your all into your work, therefore, even if you do not have long-term plans to remain at your current employment. Switch jobs as infrequently as possible. The time to prepare for a job search is before you even realize that you need to do so.

In this article, Harrison explains the importance of understanding the fact that you are not entitled to anything. One of the greatest blunders that people make is to believe that they are owed something and also that someone else is to be blamed for what happens to them. These beliefs are traps and allow others to take control of their lives. Harrison states that you need to hold the reigns of your own life, do what you want with it, make the most of what you are capable of and take responsibility of everything you do. The scepter should never, under any circumstance, be given to anyone else. Your achievements, life, and income should be the result of what you achieve and not others. The people who are the happiest, the most successful, and in control of their futures realize they are not entitled to anything.