How to Have the Best Possible Career
What to do to take your career to the next level
Where are you in your career? There are different ways to answer this question. One answer is the amount of time you have spent, such as being at the beginning or half-way through your career. Another is the level you have achieved, such as being in the middle or at the top. Then there are those who have re-careered.
Regardless of where you are, if you are just starting, at a plateau, or the end of your career, the outcome is up to you. You determine the outcome by what you have done and what you are doing. By the decisions you have made and the decisions you will make. And by the amount of drive and heart you have brought and will bring to the remainder of your career.
One thing we all share at times is the need for inspiration to help us do our best, so we can produce the best outcome from our efforts.
Let’s gain some inspiration by looking at the words of some very wise people. Each of these groups of inspirational quotes is provided with a personal insight, takeaway, or brief commentary.
Enjoy!
Work First and Foremost 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. As you continue to work on yourself your value steadily increases, and not just by adding to who you are. You will see the impact of compounding in your life, increasing your value exponentially! Let the following quotes inspire you to invest more in yourself so you can rise head and shoulders above your peers.
“Work to become, not to acquire.” — Elbert Hubbard
“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” — Jim Rohn
“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
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“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.” — Jim Rohn
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.” — Jim Rohn
Don’t Worry About What Others Say or Think
When others put you down or tell you what you can or can’t do with your career, politely tell them you will give it some thought. Then immediately dispute their input in your mind. After all, only you control your future. In the end, your career will stand on your decisions and actions, and on who you became in your life.
“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
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“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” — Charles Swindoll
“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” — Anna Freud
Care for 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. Take the attitude of a serving leader (a subject well worth studying), and you will go far in your career. The investment you make in other people will pay huge dividends in the end.
“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
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” — Jim Rohn
Don’t Fear Failure
Without failure, learning and growth are stunted. While you do not want to do foolish things, you cannot avoid taking some risks. Success is almost always on the other side of the next failure. You can learn more from one failure than you can from years of repeatedly doing the same thing. Listen to these words of wisdom, and do not let fear of failure injure your career.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
“Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.” — Tim Ferriss
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“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” — Amelia Earhart
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“I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.” — Lou Holtz
“Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet.” — Robert H. Schuller
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. Heed the words of wisdom that follow.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” — Thomas A. Edison
“He who never makes an effort, never risks a failure.” — Anonymous
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“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
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“Don’t say, ‘If I could, I would.’ Say, ‘If I can, I will.’” Jim Rohn
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you until it seems that you cannot hold on for a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
Dream
According to the Oxford dictionary, one definition of a dream is “a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.” Go toward the positive and your dreams. Push the negative and fear aside. Read the following wisdom from some big dreamers who created remarkably successful careers.
“If you can DREAM it, you can DO it.” — Walt Disney
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” — Les Brown
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“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.” — George Lucas
“If you don’t build your dream. Someone will hire you to help build theirs.” — Tony Gaskins
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“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.“ — Eleanor Roosevelt
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” — Gloria Steinem
Create Your Future
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 will add no value to you or someone else, consider doing something that will.
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” — Milton Berle
“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” — Chris Grosser
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“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Stephen Covey
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker
“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” — Confucius
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“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” — William James
I leave you with these final quotes to challenge and inspire you to become all you can be, to find your strength, and to build a sense of urgency into what you do in life. Not a sense of panic, but a strong desire to do more, to become more, to make your life count, for those you love.
“The more you care, the stronger you can be.” — Jim Rohn
“Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. Not education. Not being born with hidden talents. Desire.” — Johnny Carson
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.” — Jim Rohn
May your career be long, fruitful, and filled with life and joy!
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