Trust people, and take advantage of opportunities however and wherever they present themselves; these are the two greatest skills that anyone can possess. You must have faith and trust in your employer when taking a job, and recognize that opportunities will frequently present themselves in strange ways. Every risk has a corresponding potential reward, and you generally will only succeed if you are taking risks to get to those awards. Have faith in others and take as many risks as you can, because greater risks tend to offer greater rewards.
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 order to make full use of your strengths, it is important to determine whether you are an internally or externally motivated person. While externally motivated people are directed by others’ opinions, internally motivated people prioritize their own opinions and ways of thinking in their lives and careers. Decide which sort of person you are, embrace this identity, and seek work that makes the most of your natural tendencies.
You will greatly benefit your career by helping and promoting your company’s expansion. A common belief is that expansion is fundamentally positive, and a lack of expansion is fundamentally negative. You must be on the side of expansion rather than contraction in every area of your life. All employers seek people who will help them expand, and the more your ability to contribute to this expansion will provide you increased job security and a greater likelihood of being hired.
Information sharing, as exemplified by the internet, is changing the world for the better and is the way of the future. You must also become a force for sharing information in order to experience progress and achieve your goals.
In this article Harrison explains how long-term enjoyment of life requires that we delay gratification until a later time. The most successful people in the world show the ability to delay gratification. Failure is the result of not delaying gratification. Not facing problems is something related to our ability to delay gratification. One of the most important things we can do is to confront a problem early. Ignoring problems is a simple expression of the unwillingness to delay gratification. Our problems will not disappear. The problems that we need to confront are a barrier to our future growth. It is in your best interest to delay gratification. The people who delay gratification are found to experience the most success in their careers and lives.
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 how your problems can help you move forward. Most of us are never satisfied with what we have and we are continually seeking more and more of what we do not have. Harrison points out that problems in life are in a way special gifts which force us to move ahead. They are a much-needed drug. They seek to challenge us and keep us on our toes. Embrace your problems. Problems create energy and energy creates change. You feel the best when you were working through some challenge, with a solid goal in mind. Problems are the fuel of our life.
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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