Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field;
And afterwards build thine own house. Prov 24:27.
Another tip, Ask for what you want George Bernard Shaw says, “The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them. Asking for what you want is one of the success principles. The future does not belong to those people who sit back, wishing and hoping that things will improve. The future belongs to those people who step up and ask for what they want. And if they don’t get it right away, they ask, again and again, until they get it. Ask your boss what you have to do to qualify for an increase in pay. I once told a colleague at work this secret, he used it and he got promoted.
Think about the future. Maxwell Maltz says, “Visualize this thing that you want. See it, feel it, and believe it. Make your mental blue print and then begin to build.” The greatest insight into human behavior and individual destiny is that “You become what you think about most of the time.” Your predominant thoughts largely determine what you say, how you decide and act, the results you get, and the entire course of your life. You always tend to move in the direction of dreams and aspirations. The more you think, talk and imagine something, the more of an impact it has on your feelings and actions, and the more rapidly you attract it into your life.
Developing the habit of future orientation requires that you create a long term vision for yourself and for your career. This habit of thinking about where you are going and where you want to end up will have an enormous impact on your level of success.
Another tip, Focus on your goals – be goal oriented. Earl Nightingale says that “People with goals succeed because they know where they are going”. Brain Tracy says, “…the most important single word in achieving great success in your work and personal life is the word “clarity”. Clarity requires that you become absolutely clear about who you are, what you believe, what you are (or could be) really good at, and the goals you want to accomplish.
There about seven steps formula suggested by Brian Tracy. One, Decide exactly what you want to achieve in your career or your business, your ideal income, your desired life style, etc. Two, Write it down – when you write down your goal on paper, something amazing happens between your head and your hand, the writing programs these goals into your subconscious mind. Three, Set a deadline, even if you miss one deadline set another. Your subconscious mind needs a clear “forcing system” or specific time target to aim at. When you set deadline you activate more of your subconscious powers. Four, Make a list – write down every task you can think of that will have to complete to achieve your goal. As you think of new tasks and activities, write them down. Five, Organize your list into a plan – a plan is merely a list of activities arranged by time and sequence- what has to be done first … Once you have a goal and a plan you will have a blue print for success. Six, Take action on your plan; do something, do anything. But whatever you do, get busy, get going, don’t delay. Seven, Do something every day that moves you to toward your goal.
Be productive – Concentrate on result. Thomas Edison remarks “The first requisite of success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem or goal incessantly without growing weary” your ability to get result is the most important single determinant of how much you are paid and how rapidly you are promoted. To become more result oriented ask yourself these 3 questions. What are my highest value activities? What can I and I only do if done well, will make a real difference in my life and to my company? What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
Invest in yourself continually. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning. Set yourself apart from the crowd by being the one person in your company, family, organization who is learning and growing at faster rate than anyone else. This single decision can give you a personal competitive advantage throughout your career. Most of our knowledge and skill today ha half-life of about 2 ½ years. This means that within five years, most of what you know about your business today will be obsolete or irrelevant. So what do you do? What are the keys to continuous learning? One, Read at least one hour each day, especially in your chosen field. Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body. The daily practice of continuously reading in your field will make you one of the best educated and highest paid people in your business in a very short time. Two, Listen to educational audio programs in your car as you drive from place to place. Three, Take every course and seminar that you can find. Become hungry for new knowledge. Seek it everywhere. Nothing can help you to get paid more and promoted faster than becoming one of the most knowledgeable and competent in your field, and continuous learning is the key!
Commit to excellence. Vince Lombradi says “Your success in life will be determined more by the depth of your commitment to excellence than by any other factor no matter what your chose field” be committed to excellence then you are on your way to greatness. The starting point of becoming one of the best people in your field is for you to identify your key result areas at work. These are the skill areas where you absolutely, positively have to do an excellent job in order to get the result by which your success at work is judged by your boss. Quality work is everything. Remember your life gets better, only when you get better. Develop standards of performance. The challenge of our society is lack of excellence. Get out from the crowd.
Concentrate on the customer. Woodrow Wilson, An American President, once said “No man has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.” Customers pay all salaries and wages, customers determine the success or failure of companies and of everyone in the company. Who is your customer? “Someone who depends on you for the satisfaction of his or her needs; or someone upon whom you depend for the satisfaction of your needs” – by this definition, your boss is your customer, your co-workers, your staff and of course, the people who buy your products and services are your customers.
Everyone is dependent on someone’s for something. Everyone is someone’s customer. Your success in your life and your career will be totally determined by how well you serve and satisfy the customers in your life. The more and the better you satisfy our customers, the more customers you will be given to satisfy.
There are four levels of customer satisfaction. One, Meeting customer expectations. Two, Exceed your customers expectation. Three, Delight your customer – add something to your service that is completely unexpected and very much appreciated. Four, Amaze your customer – do something that is so far beyond their expectations that they want to buy from you again or seek your service again.
You can read more on this issue in – Brain Tracy, 2001, Get paid and promoted faster: 21 great ways to get ahead in your career.
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