15 Good Pieces of General Career Advice

15 Good Pieces of General Career Advice

One of the ways to avoid some mistakes in your career and life generally is to listen to quality advice from people who are well ahead of you in the area you are dealing with.

The advice you are being given is a product of years of experience and learning from mistakes.

So, if you are to avoid certain mistakes in your career then it is important you seek for advice.

The advice you get can make a huge difference between where you are now and where you should be in the near future.

Do what you love most

Doing what you love most could be one of the biggest favors you can do for yourself.

There is nothing that gives pleasure than doing what you love most.

So in your career, consider going for what you love doing and not just what every other person out there says.

Remember that what you love doing is connected to the natural strengths and skills that you possess.

Don’t go for something far beyond your skills, it could lead to frustration and unfulfilled dreams. You just have to do what you love.

One advantage of doing what you love is that you can never get tired of it.

t is like an addiction that cannot be broken so easily.

If you end up doing what you don’t like or fancy, then you are likely to get discouraged easily when you face challenges.

Manage your career yourself

Your career is part of what makes you who you are. It is something that should form part of your existence.

If this is so then there is no way you are going to allow someone else run your career for you.

Don’t allow that in the short and long run.

By allowing others run your career for you mean that you are not bold and strong enough to make good decisions for yourself.

Just like the first point, you are the one that know what you want and all your decisions should be geared towards doing what you love to do.

Allowing others run your career or determine what you do is similar to allowing others run your life for you.

This could be counterproductive in the long run if you don’t watch it.

It is not a bad idea for others to give you suggestions but the decisions should be made by you.

Value people

People are the number one thing you will need to succeed in your career.

There is no way you can make headway in your career if you don’t understand the role people are to play.

Understanding and appreciating the role of people in your career is what is seen as valuing people.

One of the ways you can value people is to ensure that you seek the benefit of others in your career.

Your career cannot be made if you don’t look out for the benefits of others.

Even in collaboration, you must consider what others stand to gain through your career.

Customer service skill is an excellent skill you will need when handling people.

The money you hope to make in your career will definitely not fall from the sky but through people.

So, if you treat people right, you will definitely get their best.

Improve on whatever you do

One thing you should never fail to do in your career is to improve yourself and your mode of doing things.

Improvement in your career is a good move in taking your career to the next level.

It is not debatable neither is it something you can afford to ignore.

The first step in doing this is to follow up the latest trends in the industry your career falls into and know the latest practices.

When you do this, the next step is to upgrade to that standard and prepare to adjust to accommodate the new standards.

There are various ways you can improve yourself.

First, do things that make you a better person. This is because what people check first is your personality before the quality of your services.

If you are good and your services are good, then you can have success in your career.

Remove fear from your mind

Fear is one of the things you must not allow to affect you in your career regardless of the industry you are in.

With fear, you stand no chance of advancing your career because fear will never allow you try new things, neither will it allow you to push yourself to the extreme.

One of the aspects of fear you have to deal with is the fear of investing in your career financially.

Sometimes, people are afraid of investing financially in their career. This is because they think that their money will go down the drain. No!

Another aspect of fear is the fear of failure.

Bear it in mind that making mistakes could mean you are doing something new.

When you do something new, then you are likely to make mistakes, that shouldn’t bother you. Make your corrections and move on.

Work harder

The mental and physical energy you put into your work or career may not just be enough to take you to the “promised land”.

If you are not getting the desired result in your career, it could be because the level you are operating on is not just good enough.

You need more energy and smartness in what you do. So do not see it as a strange demand to put in more effort in what you do.

Working harder will definitely demand your time. Just like in sports, how close you could be to perfection is largely dependent on the amount of time you spend improving yourself.

Your career will definitely demand more time from you. Are you ready for it?

Define your path but be flexible

This is like saying know what you want. Is it possible for one not to be sure of the type of career they wants?

Yes, it is very possible.

We see cases like that every day and that is the reason some people tend to start their career late.

If you want to go far in your career, then you must define what you want in terms of the niche or industry your skills and strengths suit early enough.

Starting your career early is dependent on you knowing what you want and going for it sooner than later.

As much as you are to stay focused in that which you have chosen to do, it is important that you develop other aspects of your life too.

There is nothing wrong to have a basic idea about other careers. It could turn out to generate extra income for you.

Be trustworthy

Trust is very important in the world of business. The big names in every industry are the ones who have earned the trust and confidence of people in the marketplace.

This is because, if people don’t trust you, they cannot do business with you.

Career wise, trustworthiness is the license you have to the heart of people.

People should be able to defend and vouch that you are for real.

They should be able to trust you to deliver the services in an excellent manner and stipulated time.

Trust takes time to build but could be easily destroyed within minutes.

So, in your dealings with people, ensure that you don’t involve yourself in whatever will dent the trust people have in you.

Your skills may not take you as far as trust can.

Learn every day

Knowledge they say is power and the right application of knowledge is wisdom.

To acquire more share and come up to an acceptable level in your career, learn every day and add more experience to your arsenal. It will help you grow in your career.

There is no growth without deliberate decision to add more knowledge to your career.

If you want to experience a big turnaround in your career, then take your time and find ways to equip yourself with the best and current knowledge in your industry.

Seminars, webinars, workshops, and magazines could be a good source of knowledge.

With seminars, you have a wonderful opportunity to meet with people that are ahead of you in that field and ask questions where you are not getting it right.

So, crave for more knowledge and watch yourself excel in your career.

Search for happiness

This is in line with doing what you love most. There is no falsehood in saying that you cannot enjoy a career that does not afford you happiness.

This is one basic difference between doing what you love and what you don’t love doing. Search for the happiness in your career.

Do you know that when you are happy in your career, you tend to develop more confidence to go the extra mile?

Do you also know that when you are not happy in your career that you can get discouraged so easily?

These are facts that cannot be argued by anyone.

So, apart from doing what you love, the next you should search for is the happiness that your career can offer.

If it cannot make you happy then you need to find out if you have chosen the wrong career, or if there is something you are not doing right in that career.

Treat people the way you want them to treat you

Like it was said earlier, you should think of how to use your career for the benefit of others.

Seeking for the benefit of others comes in the form of treating people right.

You should apply empathy in your relationship with people both in the workplace and outside the workplace.

You should never show any sign of greed or selfishness.

So, if you have always been the type that considers him/herself first and treat people with disdain, then it is time to have a change of attitude.

Remember that the people you have around you are the greatest asset that you have in your career.

If you treat them right, then you will get the best from them.

Don’t complain

The difference between the successful people and the unsuccessful ones is their approach to difficulties.

The successful ones tend to see opportunities in every bad event while the unsuccessful ones see mounds of problems in every unpleasant circumstance.

So, if you want to belong to the class of the successful ones, then quit complaining and find a way to get round any negative circumstance you find yourself.

Sometimes, the negative situations you are faced with are opportunities in disguise.

When you are faced with challenges in your career, beat your chest and tell yourself that you can scale through it.

At that point, what your mind does is to start up a recovery process, and with enough hard work you will find yourself out of that ugly situation.

Your job should not define your worth

That is to say that your current job or the stage of your career now should not define your worth.

This should give you the impetus to rise above your current state and move forward in your career.

Your career should be progressive and not static. With this in mind, you will not be stuck in your present job for long.

Define your worth by yourself, don’t let your job do that for you.

That is why you need to work hard to improve yourself.

Sometimes, people tend to look down on your career because they have not seen enough improvement from you in a long while, so they might be right to assume that that is all you can do.

Deal with the pressure

You need to learn how to deal with pressure. Even though no one invites pressure, yet it might still come.

Since it may not be prevented, the best you can do is to deal with it.

Most of the pressure you will face in your career will come from your clients.

They want the best and will be quick to reject whatever is short of their expectations.

This could generally put you under pressure but then maintain your calmness.

Also, you could contribute to your pressure by allowing laziness, lack of planning, and procrastination make their way into your career.

When you are lazy, you cannot meet deadlines neither can you think creatively on how to get round certain problems.

Market yourself well

The best person to promote your service is you; your value before people is the value you have put on yourself.

You need to present yourself well and make people believe in what you can do and what you can bring to the table.

There are ways to promote your service but the most potent way is in your abilities.

Presenting your service well to your clients is good, but at the end of the day what your clients or manager is interested in is not your certifications alone but your quality.

People come to you when they know you have a lot to offer them. If you are short of quality, with time you will lose your job or your clients.

So, what we are saying in essence is that you have to promote your service and the best form of promoting your service is the quality you bring to the table.

Conclusion

You can’t have a successful career without having some pieces of advice.

For every stage you come to in your career, you need the expertise of others currently better than you in your field.

This will help you avoid some mistakes and achieve the success that you desire in your career.