Inspiration and Life

7 Steps to Create a Great Career

inspiration to create the best career possible

Where are you in your career? If there was a straightforward way to separate yourself from the crowd, would you go for it?

There is a way. Anyone can do it once they know how. Read on and take your career to the next level!

Where are you in your career?

Where do you see yourself in your career today? Some will answer this question with the amount of time they have spent in it. They could say they are at the beginning, middle, or end.

Others may answer the question with where they are in their aspirations, such as “I am still working on it,” “I am where I want to be,” or “I have a long way to go.”

Still, others might answer with their level, as in having made it to supervisor, manager, VP, or higher.

A few may say they are in the process of re-careering or have already done so.

Regardless of where you are in your career, the outcome rests squarely on your shoulders. You determine what happens by what you have done and what you are doing. Your drive and heart will largely determine where your career goes.

We all share the need for inspiration to help us do our best, so we can produce the best outcome from our efforts. Let’s look at seven ways you can build an outstanding career with inspiration from some very wise people.

1. First and foremost, work on yourself

The work you do on yourself is the greatest investment you can make during your career. Not only will it benefit you, but it will benefit the company you work for and the people around you.

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

The longer you work on yourself, the more valuable you will become and the farther you will go in your career.

“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

As you add to your skills, abilities, and capacity, you will see the impact of compounding in your life, which increases your value exponentially!

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Can there be any doubt that the more you invest by working on yourself, the more you will rise head and shoulders above the rest?

2. Don’t worry about what others say or think

When others tell you what you can or can’t do with your career, or put you down, ignore their words. Realize the words they speak are meaningless and empty.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain (1835–1910)

Only you control who you are and who you become. Always immediately dispute negative input in your thoughts. Never accept their lies. Only you control your future. In the end, your career will stand on your decisions and actions, not on their opinions!

“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” Charles Swindoll (1934-present)

3. Care about others

Every career involves other people, so it is best to treat everyone with respect. By treating others with respect, you will come across as mature and caring.

“The more you care, the stronger you can be.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Take the attitude of a serving leader (a subject well worth studying), and you will go far in your career.

“A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him.” H. S. M. Burns (1900–1971)

Your investment in other people will pay huge dividends in the end. For both you and them!

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

Relationships are the most important thing in life. In fact, without them, life ceases to exist. Why not invest yourself in every relationship by showing respect and honoring them whenever possible?

“Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.” Ben Stein (1944-present)

4. Don’t fear failure

Without failure, learning and growth practically halt. While you do not want to do foolish things, you cannot avoid taking risks.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky (1961-present)

Most real success is on the other side of failure. A failure will teach you more in an instant than you can learn in years of doing things the low-risk, no-risk, “safe” way.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan (1963-present)

Never forget, failing does not make you a failure. It helps you grow and makes you a normal human being!

“Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet.” Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015)

5. Don’t give up

Beyond your ability to put fear at bay, you must have the tenacity to keep pushing forward and not give up if you are to build a sound career.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931)

Watch what you say and how you say it to yourself. Instead of saying you can’t do something, always ask yourself, “What can I do?”

“Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Most people give up too soon. Success is always just a breath away, so hold on and give yourself a chance to make it.

“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.” Ross Perot (1930–2019)

6. Dream

According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, one definition of a dream is “a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.”

Learn to cherish your dreams and dream big. Go toward the positive while pushing the negative and fear aside. What kind of career do you dream of? You do have a dream for what you want your career to look like, don’t you?

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” Les Brown (1945-present)

If someone tells you your dream “is only a dream,” tell them “it is a dream that will come true!”

“If you can DREAM it, you can DO it.” Walt Disney (1901–1966)

Let your dreams take on more meaning by seeing them as a form of planning. That is what dreaming is, after all, a crucial part of planning!

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem (1934-present)

7. Create your future

To a large degree, everyone can predict the future if they wish. It only takes a dream, being unafraid, planning, and developing the tenacity to go over, under, around, or through anything that gets in your way. You are in charge of what you choose to create in the future.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

You create your career through the decisions you make and the actions you take. See each decision for the value it can create in your future. If a decision adds no value to you or someone else, consider doing something that will.

“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” Chris Grosser (1989-present)

Why not create the career you want? By working smart and hard, with grit and tenacity in this experiment called life, your chances of achieving it are great!

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Final thoughts

You will stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd by taking the above seven actions. How can I say this with confidence? For two reasons.

• You have chosen to read this article to the end, so you are already miles ahead of most people.
• You likely possess the drive, discipline, and desire to grow, learn, and push yourself into creating an outstanding career.

If that last bullet point describes you, there is little doubt you will be successful! I leave you with a final piece of wisdom from a man whose career was exceptional in every respect:

“Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. Not education. Not being born with hidden talents. Desire.” Johnny Carson (1925–2005)

May your career be long, fruitful, and filled with life, love, and joy!

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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION

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