People have different balanced expectations from themselves at work: money, technology, networking, challenging project, innovative project, travel, title, equities, work-life balance, job satisfaction, exposure, health, happiness, social responsibility, job type, startup, strategy, public image, leadership, and many more. At different points in their career, these parameters would be stacked differently, and rightly so.
In this blog post, I am sharing good career advice that I received for my career and growth.
Strive for excellence, use your strengths
Pursuit to excellence is like a pursuit of happiness. The bar keeps going up. It’s not the destination but the more meaningful journey. I had the privilege to work with leaders that would ask me to focus on my strengths – demonstrated and non-demonstrated (i.e., potential). Acknowledge and improve areas that you are weak, but not at the cost of your strengths.
Never let anybody dent your confidence. Always create value for your customers and business.
Seek out your dream job/role
It’s deliberately reaching out for discomfort. Doing a job that you are good at is great for the employer and not necessarily suitable for you.
You may be good in engineering but seek discomfort in project management. You may be good at project management but seek discomfort in product management. You may be good at product management but seek discomfort in engineering.
Lateral is the way to grow. Lateral is the way up.
Great leaders encourage you to apply to jobs/roles that give you another milestone to cherish in your life. Mediocre managers leverage your strengths only for the current job/role.
Posted job descriptions are never a good representation of the role demands. Always “talk” to the hiring leader.
Specialize or Diversify? Do it well
If you desire to seek specialization – go after it. Specialization in any subject requires you to spend significant time to acquire the competency/skill and practice. Don’t spread yourself too thin; pick an area and go deep.
If you desire to seek diversification – go after it. Diversification will require that you build networks and teams; you rely on others (in your network or group) but remain accountable. Connect, listen (not hear), and act.
If you desire specialization and diversification – go after it. Some people have successfully navigated both.
Some started with diversification and then specialized. Others began with specialization and then diversified. There is no career recipe; make your recipe.
Performance, Image, Exposure
Jobs/Roles demand performance, and growth requires exposure to new people and projects. Volunteer to work on initiatives that give you more exposure (work/life). Volunteering to do more when you have a demanding job/role requires you to stretch, work smarter (manage time), and delegate.
Stress: Circle of Control, Influence, & Concern
Stress is good for growth.
It’s widely believed that as you go up a corporate ladder, your circle of control gets bigger. However, the reality is that your circle of influence gets more significant, and the circle of control relatively shrinks.
The circles of concern & influence are the primary driver of “stress” in job/roles. It’s also critical to understand that your circle of control could be the primary driver of “stress” for your peers and teams.
If you understand your abilities to control or influence the outcome, you don’t need to eat stress for breakfast.
Treat People Like People
Treat others like you would like them to treat you.
Don’t treat people like “resources.” People are not like a CPU with a fixed capacity.
People have infinite capacity, and capacity increases when they are motivated. If they find inspiration, then you get unbounded capacity.
People get burnt out; they need time to relax, so do you.
Health, Family, Work
If you lose health, you cannot take care of your family or do an excellent job at work. If you lose work, then you cannot support your family. Family is always there for you – in grief and happiness. You can’t afford to lose unconditional family love. So, the priority order has to be – health, family, and work.
Exercise for 45 minutes every day, even if that is a simple morning brisk walk. This “me” time helps you recharge.
Don’t treat your work colleagues like your family. Treat them like your team. Don’t treat your family like your team.
Final Thoughts
Choose to ignore advice that does not make sense, and consider it your common sense to use the advice that makes sense. Please don’t make people your role models; choose to cherish their actions or ideas that made them role models.
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