I came across a great article a while ago while browsing through Twitter. It talks about the six factors of career success. It was written by a Alesia Benedict, certified professional resume writer, and a job and career transition coach. She is also the president of the country’s leading resume writing firm. Do you think she is qualified to share with us a few success factors to keep us at the top of our jobs and careers? I think so!
Basic Skills
Employers, including the one you currently work for, appreciate employees who can read well, write well, and think well. What are you doing to continue to improve your vocabulary (I recommend learning at least one new word per day) and your thinking.
Personal Skills
Enthusiasm and Knowledge
Your attitude will determine your altitude. I don’t remember who said this, but it is most definitely true. Are you showing continued interest in the trends, goals, objectives of your department and of your company? Do you stretch beyond your own job description? Do you take advantage of special committees, or of other events within your company? The more you learn, and the more interest you show in others and in other topics, the more positively this will reflect upon you in the company.
Consistent, Persistent Value
Are you looking for ways, each day, to add value to your supervisor, to your supervisor’s supervisor, to your customers, and to your co-workers? Are you treating each person you come across as someone who you want to serve and provide excellent services to? Work on consistently coming in early, strive to improve every day by 1% in your key performance areas, and you will be put into the valued category in the eyes of upper management.
Professional Development
Are you dedicated to continuous and never ending improvement? Are you attending seminars, taking classes, attaining training, and learning new skills that will make you competitive? If you are not, think about this: someone else with your equal skills is making that commitment. Remember, in the Kentucky Derby and other races, the winning time is often a fraction of a second. Each step you take to develop professionally could mean a fraction of a second in the race against your competition. Successful people are lifelong learners.
Career Development
The difference between career and professional development is in the time frame. Career development is the planning and goal setting process which looks three to five years down the line. I found this interesting resource online, which may be helpful. Also, Brian Tracy has a great resource, Master Strategies for Higher Achievement: Set Your Goals and Reach Them – Fast! (Your Coach in a Box).
You might also enjoy this timeless classic that’s made quite an impression on my life: Lead the Field, by Earl Nightingale
I’d be interested in hearing about your favorite personal and career growth development resources: these could include books, seminars, podcasts, or any other resource I might be missing. Would you please share them with me in the comment section? Thank you!
photo credit: megansheridan
About Stephen Borgman
Hi Stephen,
Terrific article – I can never be reminded often enough of the basics … it’s practicing them consistently on a daily basis that’s the trick – but hey, if it were easy we’d be bumping into each other in the executive suite, huh? Thanks for the inspiration!
The beauty of these basics is that we can program them into our lives over 21 days so that they become positive habits that propel us forward, rather than bad habits that destroy us. Thanks for your comment, Marquita
Hi Stephen,
Nice article. I’m in agreement that the basics are most important. When you get that right, success is right around the corner.
Thanks for the article.
Gary, it’s true. John Wooden, one of the most successful coaches of all time, emphasized the basics to his players. And they won because of practicing those basics: over and over.
I agree, follow these steps and you will never go wrong.
thanks for sharing this.
You’re welcome, Adrian!
Twitter: steve_dooley215
says:
If more Americans would follow your advice here we’d have less to worry about from places like India. If we make ourselves more valuable then our employers would happily compensate workers for that……
Twitter: steveborgman
says:
Very good point, Steve!
Steve,
I think the most important self development lesson we can learn is that learning never stops. As long as you are within this existence you should be learning, improve and developing yourself. It doesn’t really matter what you do to further your professional education, just as long as you continue. If you say you’ve learned all you need and that you’re done learning, then you begin to slide backwards.
Thanks for the article and letting me expound on it.
RICK
Incremental success over time through learning is akin to the power of water on the largest rocks: over time, the water overcomes the rock. And over time, persistent learning, applied to our ‘rocky’ obstacles, will overcome them and transform them into something beautiful. Thanks, Rick, for sharing
Twitter: eldonbeard
says:
Hello Stephen, not sure where I first heard it, but the quote “your attitude determines your altitude” has been around a while. I think I might have heard it from Zig Ziglar years ago. Bottom line is, though, it’s absolutely true. I have found that everything is affected by your attitude – not just your achievement in business, but also your health and general well-being. I don’t think a lot of people realize just how important it is to eliminate the negative self talk and think in terms of “what can be” rather than dwelling on “what is”. Anyway, great post!
Eldon, it’s great to meet another Zig fan. I do believe that quote about attitude came from him. Thanks for sharing your feedback. One great way to change our self-talk is to catch ourselves when thinking in the negative and pose a counter question that starts looking for possibilities and gratitude.
Hello Stephen, I agree with you those are the most important factors in achieving success in career development. I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks.
You’re welcome, steffphani. Thanks for stopping by.
Great article Stephen! I have to remark the great importance of a good personal and professional development program and follow-up from the employer’s side. This is to open your eyes for the possibilities in your own development.
Nella, I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
Twitter: dereck_arreguin
says:
Hey Steve,
It’s funny you mentioned consistant and persistant value, because I just wrote a blog posting talking about the importance of both in order to be successful. Funny how things like that happen and as they say… “Great minds think alike”.
Thanks for laying down the law and talk soon.
-Dereck
Dereck, thank you for stopping by. I appreciate you sharing some of your ideas as to how you stay consistent and persistent. I was just listening to the Internet Business Mastery podcast the other day, and they said the exact same thing. We sometimes are intimidated by the size of our tasks, but when we take a simple action each and every day toward our key goals, they become very manageable.
Hey Steve,
Brilliant article, we definitely need to ponder whether we acquire these qualities or not. Besides academic achievements we need to give importance on personal development which plays a crucial role in the decisions we make, in our relation with other. Being only humans we cannot be perfect but in order to be successful we ought to work hard on some very important qualities.