What knowledge or advice would you have liked to know at the start of your career that you know now?
If you could make a list of a dozen of the most important truths for your younger self, what would you include? Once you have written this list, your challenge is to share it with as many people as possible. This is my list.
- Always keep your integrity.
If a person could have only one character trait, integrity would be the best choice: in many ways, it is the one from which all others flow. Keeping your integrity doesn’t mean that you don’t compromise. Compromise is an important part of life, and each day compromise happens and it is part of building “win/win” situations. You will experience situations throughout your life and career that you will know are wrong: what you do, even if no one will ever know except yourself, defines what your integrity is.
2. Keep your short-term goals, mid-term goals, and long-term goals in line as much as possible.
Basic survival – having food, a safe place to live, getting through today – are your short-term goals. Included in those goals are things you will need or want to do in the next thirty days to six months. Keeping them in line with where you want to be in a year or two can be difficult, depending on the economy and life in general. However, if you can keep those mid-term goals within the same general direction, then it will make it easier to focus on your long-term plans or where you want to be in three to five years. Your circumstances and direction will change, but it is still important to have goals and objectives. Write them down and work towards them. Expect setbacks and allow some flexibility, but don’t forget where you want to be in the future.
3. Strive to enjoy your life.
This is not a contradiction. Your destination is important, but remember the journey and what you encounter on your path might be even more important and fulfilling than what you achieve. Take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Soon enough, your responsibilities may close doors of opportunity, so as much as possible, choose to experience life. Your short, medium, and long-term goals may not always line up with this, but that is okay: life is as much about the experiences as it is the successes.
4. Remember humility and help others.
In your life and your career, there will be certain people who will help you and you may not even realize it at the time. You will owe them a debt that can only be repaid by helping other people when you have the opportunity. Never take credit that you didn’t earn, and when you do take credit, share it first with those people around you. Part of your duty in life is to leave things better than when you found them, and helping people is a great way to accomplish that.
5. Stand out for the right reasons.
The path to success is easier if you stand out for the right reasons. Try to be early to work, at least 10-15 minutes each day. While you are working, work: it might seem a simplistic statement but you will notice that many others do not. Volunteer for extra work, and when your organization needs someone to step up, make sure it is you. You are going to make mistakes – make sure that you accept responsibility and learn from each one, as few of the things you do will always work perfectly the first time.
6. Strive to keep a work/life balance.
To be successful, you will have to work harder than most people do. Long hours and extra shifts will likely be necessary. Balance that by making sure that you take time to enjoy what you can and realize that you can likely accomplish more in your career if you are well rested and have a life outside of work. As the adage goes, no one looks back on their life wishing they had spent more time at the office.
7. Avoid pride, arrogance, and complacency.
As you start to succeed, never take your success for granted. Remember to stay committed to doing a good job and to sharing the praise that comes from success. Being successful is seldom the result of the actions of one person and appreciating that will help you to avoid arrogance. Never simply expect to be successful.
8. Build relationships and connections.
Your success will depend equally on your efforts as on the relationships and connections you forge with those people around you. Find mentors and learn from what they will teach you. Stay in contact and be genuinely interested in their successes and times when they need support. Volunteer in your community and find ways to make your community better because of you and the work that you do.
9. Never stop learning and always be reinventing yourself.
Find 15-30 minutes every day to learn. It might be a podcast, a book, a magazine, e learning: it doesn’t matter, as long as you are constantly learning new things and finding ways to be better than you were yesterday. In your career, you may change jobs several times and the more you know, the more likely you will be able to influence the types of jobs you can land.
10. Remember that not everything is about you.
Every person you meet has a life. They have people and things that are important to them: make sure you appreciate that. Understanding people and their needs is vital and there will be times that you will need to put their needs ahead of your own in order to do the right thing.
11. Not everything needs you to fix it.
Many times people will want to talk about a problem or issue. They will want to talk about it to vent or to think. Appreciate they may just want you to listen, they may want to solve their problem themselves and they just want you to know. If you are unsure, ask them what they will like you to do. Trust me on this one especially.
12. Avoid regret.
Make your decisions by asking, “What are the facts?” and “What are the alternatives?” Then make the best decision you can in the time that you have available. Afterwards, ask yourself, “What did I do right, what did I do wrong, and what would I do differently next time?”
Try to avoid dwelling on regrets – unless someone invents a time machine, all you can do is your best. Everyone has regrets, and this is not about denying them; however, if you follow this decision-making process and you do your best that is all anyone can do given their circumstances.
13. You will get discouraged and you will get depressed: ask for help, and know that things will get better.
This is perhaps the most important lesson, which is why it is the last one. Despite all of the plans and good intentions in the world, things are going to go wrong: you will have bad things happen to you, and it is impossible to stay positive 24/7/365. Know that, appreciate that, and recognize this as a truth. Prepare yourself for when that happens. Mentors can help; connections can help, and never be too proud to ask for help. Realizing this truth will help make things start to get better.
If I were limited to just a dozen points, these would be my lessons to share with my younger self. Yours might be different, which is good. Share your knowledge, help mentor whomever you can, and make a difference. So much in life depends on chance and is beyond our control; by keeping these lessons in mind, you can at least let others benefit from your experience as they navigate the hurdles you faced and new ones as well.