The Core of Successful Careers

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Believe written in the sand at the beach While things such as a well-written resume, strong recommendations and a college degree will assist you in becoming a success, it is truly the intangibles which make or break a career.

Even though you can’t put your wisdom, positive outlook on life and business or your perceived people skills on your cover letter without coming across as over-generalized, they are the core of your successful career.

As a matter of fact, in your consciousness, you can tap a reservoir of boundless power, energy, intelligence, drive and resiliency. It’s aspects like this that are crucial. Things like a LinkedIn profile are much less “key” than you may think.

Setting Yourself Up for a Successful Career

To set yourself up for success, you must return to the basics. The tips I am about to provide are not groundbreaking, though failure to comply with them can eventually be career shattering:

1. Stop believing in defeat. When you think about defeat, you tend to receive what you anticipate.  When you think only about obstacles, you never find the solutions.

Obstacles, regardless of how insurmountable they may appear, can all be taken care of with faith, guts and a willingness to work. In order to be successful, learn to never be afraid of an obstacle.  Begin to realize that you have the power to handle more roadblocks than you probably give yourself credit for.

2. Know that worrying leads to insecurity, which leads to wasted time. There are very few guarantees in life. Yet, you can be certain that you will not be able to eliminate bad events (major or minor), which will happen throughout our career.

While we can’t eradicate these mishaps entirely, we can prevent the needless debilitation caused by worrying. Worrying will lead professionals to retreat from taking risks, forming key professional relationships and will systematically strip the individual of their confidence and ability to produce.

Instead of worrying about whether a client is going to sign the contract or if your boss is going to give you a raise, learn to live in the moment. Begin to see that you can’t control every outcome.

Simply let each day unfold and focus on the tasks and accomplishments you are working on at that given moment. No more, no less.

3. Know that success or failure is all in your head. Often, the way you think about your professional career, your abilities and your co-workers will affect not only your mind, but also your body.

For instance, if you think a particular goal is too much work, you will notice that your body will accept that fact and become fatigued.  Conversely, if your mind is intensely interested in your job and in achieving particular goals, you can continue that activity indefinitely.

The business world favors efficient, outgoing and energetic individuals. Becoming one begins with how we perceive a situation. Begin to think in a positive manner and soon you will become immune to your body, mind and spirit becoming depleted.

In the End

A resume may be your ticket in, but the rest of the journey to becoming a successful professional rests with your thought process, belief system and perception.

By Ken Sundheim