It recently hit me – I’ve been in the workforce for 10+ years. This benchmark seems like as good a time as any to take a step back & reflect on a decade of lessons learned. Would love to hear – what principles guide your day-to-day? Below is a compilation of gathered wisdom infused with personal perspective.
1. Give a damn. Passion: what’s life without it? We spend most of our waking hours making a living. Give them meaning. Make the journey memorable.
2. Perception is the co-pilot to reality. Have never forgotten these words by Carla Harris. You are what you think. Learn to direct your thoughts; after all, beliefs are just thoughts you keep thinking.
3. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. No matter the message, your delivery has the greatest impact.
4. Say yes, and then figure it out. Earlier in my career, I was offered an opportunity to move to New York to build a business from the ground up. I hesitated and it cost me the job. Sometimes you just need to close your eyes, give a resounding yes & then figure it out. Point blank.
5. Never confuse motion with action. We’re all busy (perhaps busier than Ben Franklin was when he made this statement). We need to get better at moving forward the precious few things that matter and letting go of the rest. Action over motion, baby.
6. Just ask. Doesn’t matter what it is – a new opportunity, raise, promotion, time off (let’s hear it for Argentina, Iceland & Colombia in the books this past year!). Learn to advocate for yourself and have no qualms doing it.
7. And always ask forgiveness instead of permission. Be bold. Be smart, but be bold. Never be apologetic in your bias for action.
8. Respect others’ styles. I cringe looking back on how, in my PR days, I regularly edited a junior colleague’s email sign-off. There are many ways to get the job done – teach, but don’t clone.
9. Know your brand. We all have strengths, weaknesses. Own them and craft your story accordingly. Your brand changes over time; don’t hesitate to refresh it.
10. How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard, I’ve just now hit my stride on this one. Make time for yourself each day, each week, each month to emerge from the chaos and simply check-in. The time to make a change is now.
