The sense of achievement isn’t a privilege of the majority; it demands a lot of effort and hard work. Of course these elements are not quite adequate since a lot of people struggle and devote long working hours without even getting close to the desired results.
What are we missing from the bigger picture then?
You have to first define what greatness is for you. How far do you want to go, how many steps or skills away is your goal? What sacrifices are you willing to make?
It is very important to know where you want to go and what you want to achieve because otherwise it is very easy to exhaust yourself with things that are of low importance and get you nowhere. No matter what though, you should get rid of your nasty grumping habit.
Bosses tend to be horrible from time to time, but employees tend to get equally lazy, so it is better to think that you are performing a number of tasks in order to improve your skills rather than you are doing your job. You are not a robot and no one would do the same job in the exact same manner!
Here are a few good suggestions for protecting you from yourself and help you become amazing at whatever you like to do!
Put your happy face on!
This is not a step to improve you as a professional but coworkers should at least tolerate you! So arrogance, bad manners, cranky mood are not a good fit for corporate places! Your mood can have serious effect on other people, especially in business relations where relationships with colleagues should be very carefully cultivated. When you enter the office you should have a positive attitude if you don’t won’t to mess the atmosphere.
Especially, if you are a manager or team leader, have you ever thought about how dreadfully can your temper influence your group? Great people don’t make other people miserable.
Organize your day but also plan ahead
By stepping in to your office, just before hell breaks loose, it is a very good idea to set priorities about your daily tasks. Most of the professionals most of us know, spend the first half an hour of a day, reading news, checking e-mails or other work related issues that are quite productive but don’t contribute to prioritization.
In order to be able to handle all workload, it is very important to identify the issues that need to be dealt with ASAP so as to focus on what you are indisputably required to carry out. Set your task list and do your best to fulfill all duties by the end of the day.
Keep always in mind weekly or monthly goals. You might be successful in reaching the daily goals but what about that report that has to be done by the end of the month?
Prioritize the issues that need to be addressed immediately with great respect to long term engagements and obligations.
Learn new things every day, improve your skills and stay up-to-date!
In this highly competitive professional world where brand new tools and techniques emerge every day and technology advances in a really really fast pace, it is very crucial to continually develop your dexterities. How else are you going to be competitive and unsurpassed at what you do?
Get informed about the latest trends of your industry, download white papers, get certifications, receive feedback, attend events and try to put everything into practice.
The most important thing you endeavor though for reaching greatness and not mediocrity is to:
Stop whining about duties you don’t like!
Face even the most insignificant tasks as the means that will improve your competences. Whether it is confrontation with dissatisfied customers or a repetitive duty that no one else does, it is something that has to be done. If you don’t like it make sure that your superiors appreciate it and if you do enjoy the specific task make sure it adds up to your skills (and also your superiors is good to know about it). Be very sure though that everything counts as experience when applying it on a different job function.
For instance, you are a marketing professional and your company doesn’t have the resources to hire an account manager, so it comes to you to perform the dirty work. You might find it boring to serve all customers but have you ever thought how much insight you get about your products or the market requirements? Of course there are other tools for this job, but when you are in direct contact with your end customer, you grasp the essence and this can save you a lot of time as far as it concerns your marketing campaigns’ design and targeting. Not bad, right?
The notion is to collect all that knowhow, build up your skills and never whine about obstacles in your path. Be sure that there are going to be many and often they are going to seem overwhelming, but remember that great people find the way to overcome them.
Be among them!
