This blog will give you the top four actions to take when starting your career, in any industry and any job. I wish I fully understood this when I started out; why? Because it would have save me years of pain and effort. These four actions are actions you MUST start doing right now! It doesn’t matter if you’re at the beginning of your career or ten years in, start doing these NOW!
Ask questions
We’ve all heard the phrase, “no question is a stupid question”. If you don’t ask you won’t know. Something I still do today is ask questions, no matter what I’m doing. The more I ask, the more I learn. Try to visualise you as a sponge: absorbing knowledge and experience, but, and it’s a BIG BUT. Ask questions, not out of ego but out of action. When you ask, ask with the intention to learn and implement. Don’t ask questions with the intention to show off or make anyone else look bad. This will only sour relationships.
Focus on personal growth
Self-investment is incredible. It takes you to the next level faster than the rest. The one thing I have learnt is that, depending on your industry, formal education is dead. For example, in a knowledge based industry, formal education may give you a wonderful accreditation (I know I’ve been there and done it), but it doesn’t give you real, practical solutions. Self-investment through learning from others is where the power lies. Find out who you can learn from, make contact from them and invest your time (and money if required) to learn and implement.
Fed up of not knowing how to lead your career? I lay out all the behaviours you need to make the difference in my book. Click here to purchase it (for the price of a cocktail).
Understand how to use failure
Understand this now, you will fail, 100%. However, the action you need to take is to understand how to treat failure. Rather than treating failure as failure, treat failure as experience. One powerful tool I used is to stop using the word failure all together! Read my previous blog here where I go into more detail on how to view failure. Or, if you prefer a video, click here.
Find your mission
This one may be more difficult and need a more in-depth understanding on your values and who you are as a person. The key to focus on here, is to make your mission long-term. Focus on where you want to be and break down the steps you need to take to get there. Then, try to beat it!
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How to reference this blog
- Toor, J. (2020). What to do when starting your career? Available at: https://pmgrowth.co/what-to-do-when-starting-your-career?