How to achieve success on the job

We all know people who really are successful. They are at the top of their profession (or as near the top as they want to be). They seem to get a lot done with a minimal amount of stress.

I have known a few of these people and have had the chance to quiz them a bit - to try to discover their secrets. Some things are always evident with these people. They are intelligent, they love to learn, and their learning never stops. They look for better mousetraps. They work hard. They are intense, and they put in long hours when they need to. And in the spirit of this of this newsletter, they sincerely enjoy what they do.

I don't know if these successful people kept trying different things until they found what they liked, or they just somehow always knew where their rainbow was. But the rest of us can learn a very powerful lesson from their examples. If you like your job, doing it well and building a foundation for success really isn't all that difficult. It's fun! "Work," to most truly successful people, is like play.

One of our recurring newsletter themes is that you should do whatever it takes to identify what you like to do. Get to know yourself - what keeps you so happily occupied that you don't mind missing lunch?

Apply this information to your career planning. You owe it to yourself to try to line up your likes with your must-dos. The ceiling of your potential climb to the top will be raised to a much higher level.

I'm not suggesting that if your great love is stamp collecting you should quit your position as IS Director, sell your house, and open a stamp shop (although it has been done successfully). But if your real professional turn-on is writing and debugging complex code, then be honest with yourself. You will likely be more successful and happier going in a technical direction. If you like technology, but are more comfortable identifying how technology can provide solutions to business problems, consider technical sales or sales support.

Remember, if you like what you are doing, you don't have to work! Your job should be something you want to do, rather than something you have to do.

Tom Whitley and the staff of Management Recruiters of Kannapolis, specialize in recruiting information systems, telecommunications, and networking professionals at both the technical and managerial levels. If you are interested in discussing career opportunities, if you need assistance with your recruiting efforts, or if you have comments about the Career Advisor contact Tom at tomwhitley@ctc.net.

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