The 2 Things You Must Avoid in Your Career

Below are the two things that you must avoid as a young professional and for the rest of your career.  If you fall into either category don’t beat yourself up over it, but you must take action and do something about it immediately, otherwise it will just continue and hold you back from achieving the goals you set for yourself.

Let’s take a look at the two nasty things you must avoid:

Being Unhappy

Many young professionals try to justify their unhappiness with work by saying “It’s just work, nobody likes what they do.”  That is an awful excuse and quite frankly, it isn’t true at all.  There are plenty of successful young professionals that absolutely love what they do and have struck a great balance between their personal and professional lives.  Just because the people around you may be miserable about what they do from 9-5 doesn’t mean it is acceptable to allow them to drag you down and tell you its “normal” to hate your career.

Unhappiness at work very often will lead to unhappiness within your personal life as well.  How many times have you seen or heard someone come home unhappy from work and consequently treat their friends and family differently?  “It’s alright, he just has a lot of tough days at work” is not an acceptable excuse.  Of course you will have bad days, but if you are consistently carrying over a poor attitude from work into other aspects of your life, you need to make a major change immediately.  Find an opportunity that will make you happy.  Enjoying what you do is far more important than a few extra bucks or a fancier title on your business card.  Unhappiness at the office can also lead to depression and/or substance abuse problems.

The bottom line is that you will be spending 40-60 hours a week doing something you call your career, so make sure you enjoy it.  People prefer to talk to someone at a social gathering who displays enthusiasm while discussing their career.  Be the person whose face lights up when he’s asked what he does for a living.  Be the one who everyone else is jealous of because they never took the time to seek out the best opportunities for themselves, and you did.

Being Unsuccessful

The other major pitfall that you will avoid by following the three step process is becoming unsuccessful.  By being diligent and following this process, you will put yourself in a position to become successful.  Some people are able to enjoy success from the beginning of their professional lives, while others put themselves in a position to learn, improve their skills and eventually become successful.  Either way, those who put in the initial effort to find a great opportunity will ultimately achieve their visions of success.

The biggest fear that I have from a professional standpoint is waking up one day and realizing that I wasn’t successful because I never gave myself an opportunity to succeed.  If you don’t put in the proper effort and work hard to find a great opportunity, you will never find one.  Great opportunities very rarely will drop out of the sky, so increase your odds and seek your best opportunity.

By properly preparing yourself, you’ll be ready to recognize and maximize on opportunities when they come your way.  One of the main reasons why young professionals do not experience initial career success is simply because they did not identify and seek out their best opportunities.

Don’t Settle

Below is an excerpt from the commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005. Jobs is the founder and current CEO of Apple, which he started in his 20s. It is important to learn from successful people that did extraordinary things in their 20s; they offer a unique perspective and are able to share the lessons they have learned over their lives and careers. Jobs explains the importance of finding work that you love and never settling until you find it. Regardless of the economic conditions, you must stay committed to finding a career that you truly love and are passionate about.  It will not only lead to career success, but it will also make your personal life more enjoyable as well.  Enjoy Jobs’ inspiring words:

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Steve Jobs – CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios

Stanford University Commencement Address

Palo Alto, CA

June 12, 2005

The Difference Between a “Job” and an “Opportunity

For those of you that have read my book, you know that this is a subject I am very passionate about.  In case you haven’t read the book yet, let me define each of them for you:

Job – a piece of work done for pay, a task; duty, the thing of material being worked on, employment; work

Opportunity – a combination of circumstances favorable for the purpose, a good chance as to advance oneself

In the book we do not use the “J” word, and for good reason; successful people find opportunities to build a great career and advance themselves.  They don’t look for a piece of work done for pay.  If you look at your career and see yourself collecting a paycheck without a clear path to advance yourself, learn about the industry and grow as a professional, then it is time to make a change.  You wouldn’t be reading this unless you had a desire to be successful, so make sure your career is filled with opportunities to continually learn, increase your income, take on additional responsibilities and do something you truly enjoy.

Regardless of whether the economy is in great shape or doing terribly, there are always opportunities for young, ambitious individuals who bring value to an organization.  You may need to look harder and face stiffer competition, but great careers are out there for the taking.  Figure out what you are passionate about and would like to do each day, then simply focus on finding an organization that offers this while simultaneously teaching you and providing you opportunities to grow within the company.