Is Under-Promising and Over-Delivering the Right Strategy to Grow in Your Career?

People in general advise that the best way to impress your superiors is to under-promise and over-deliver. But there is another school of thought that is quite contradictory to this advice. Let us find out what this new advice is and if this advice will help you in your career growth.

Modern gurus are very much against under-promising and over-delivering. Instead, they advise that you should over-promise and over-deliver. What does "over-promising and over-delivering" mean? Its implied meaning is that you should be proactive in your approach. When the management expects you to do the jobs assigned to you in the right manner, you should volunteer to offer beyond what is expected from you. Simply put, you should promise to surpass their expectations.

  

What can a proactive approach do for your career?

A proactive approach is an accelerator that can fast-track your career success. In fact, this approach is what differentiates a great performer from a good performer. By being a great performer, you can ensure not only your growth but the growth of your organization as well. Even Dondi Scumaci, who is considered an expert in the realm of leadership, says, “Compliance will never take you where commitment can go.” So, you must remain committed to adopting a proactive approach.

This approach comes with another benefit as well. You will inspire your peers and colleagues also and if everyone in the organization adopts this approach, the company is certain to scale unimaginably great heights. 

If you just comply with the instructions of your management, you will be considered a responsive employee. On the other hand, if you adopt a proactive approach and voluntarily over-promise and over-deliver, you will prove to be an asset for your company. The top management of the company will very soon come to know of your proactive approach and hence, they will pick you up for a suitable top position.

Unfortunately, most of the employees hate over-promising and over-delivering. Only a few have this attitude. That is the reason the pyramid is not crowded at the top. Be among these few people and achieve remarkable growth in your career.

The Worst Habit That Can Delay Success in Your Career and Life

Habits are of several types and among them, a few are unconscious habits. Even among unconscious habits, there is one habit that can wreak havoc on your ambitions to succeed in your career or in life. You may be eager to know what it is. This post will create awareness about the habit and in addition, you will get a few tips to break it as well.

Experts and especially those who have achieved stupendous success in their life consider this as the worst habit that can nullify all your efforts and retard the process of your success. Therefore, if you want to succeed in your career, your entrepreneurial venture, or in your life, you have to take immediate steps to break the habit. Of course, there are no simple ways to get rid of it. But if you make conscious and focused efforts, you can certainly bring about a phenomenal change in your behavioral pattern and reprogram or re-tune your life for achieving success.

Our forefathers were not having habits of this type and that was perhaps one of the reasons most of them could lead a peaceful life. But after the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of different kinds of gadgets and more particularly, smartphones, everyone's life seems to have gone blooey. If it is said that this habit has led to a diminution of focus towards their life's visions and dreams, it may not be an exaggerated statement. Let us now delve into this topic.

Being an unconscious habit, you may not think even for a moment about it before you indulge in it. But unfortunately, its negative nature can sabotage all the efforts you make for having a smooth journey to succeed in your career or life. That is the reason you are advised to break it. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do – excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” The major benefits of dispensing with the habit are that you will become a more attentive and better listener, the prioritizing process you adopt will be better, and the quality of your output will improve dramatically. In short, your efforts-to-output ratio will see a manifold improvement.

The habit we are talking about is stopping whatever you are doing including important tasks and checking your smartphone whenever you hear the noise of a notification or a message. Of course, some of you may argue that you have the habit but despite that, you are successful. It may be true that you could achieve success in spite of indulging in this nasty habit. But if you do not have it or if you get rid of it, you can scale still greater heights. The question now is: How to break this habit?

Know what a human brain likes.

Human brains do not like unfamiliar things. Your brain may have become familiar with your unconscious habit of checking the smartphone whenever you hear the noise of a notification or a message. Therefore, it becomes necessary that you should familiarize your brain with the ways you intend to adopt for breaking this habit. The most effective way to do this is to repeat the process of not succumbing to your tendency to check your smartphone immediately when you receive messages or notifications. By practicing the process repeatedly, you can familiarize your brain with your ways. 

What is the process?

Experts suggest the following process.

You should initially set a short duration, say about 15 minutes, and not check your smartphone during that brief period. Once you succeed in this first step, you can increase this duration to 30 minutes, then to 1 hour, and so on. Very soon, you will reach a stage when you will not feel the urge to check your phone for a whole day. After that, it will become a permanent habit that can positively impact the quality of your output.

You are not advised to throw away your smartphone because gadgets like it are certainly useful in several other ways. But you should earmark a specific time for checking the notifications or messages you receive. Remember that by dispensing with the habit of unconsciously checking your phone whenever you hear the noise of a message or notification, you can prevent distractions from hampering your growth. Distraction-less efforts will do a world of good in fast-tracking your journey towards success. 

How to Convert Your Nightmarish Job Search into a Boss-Less Career

The job market has undergone a seismic shift in recent years. Especially, after the advent of the Internet, things have changed dramatically. But unfortunately, not many career aspirants seem to have the complete knowledge of the shifts and changes that have taken place and that are likely to continue impacting the job market even in the future. If you are looking for a career, you must know the complete details of these changes. Otherwise, you will not be able to shape your career the way you want, not to talk about shaping your life. Let us find out more about this.

Not just small entities but even giant companies have switched gears and are adopting new tactics to manage their operations. Regardless of their motives, the fact remains that these tactics help them save costs to a significant extent. The most important tactic they are adopting is to look for experts with in-depth knowledge in their industry and hire them on a contract basis or on a commission basis. This means that if you have knowledge and experience in specific industries, you can offer your services as a freelancer and earn a huge income. 

Of course, when you were studying, you would have never thought that you would become a freelancer or an expert who would work on a contract basis because that was not the norm then. But in the present-day context, it has become one of the most sought-after options. Even mammoth organizations are on the look-out for experts who are willing to choose this option.

Ironically, even now, there are skeptics who think that working as a freelancer can not be full-belly gratifying. These skeptics are always like that. They never like contemporary ideas. But once the ideas get translated into real successes, they will unashamedly use the phrase "I said so." 

The question you should ask yourself is "What prevents me from choosing the freelancing option when I am in possession of expertise in this in-demand field and when I have time on my hands?" The fact is that freelancing options can be fun as well as lucrative.

There are two main fears freelancers may have. The first one is that they may develop a tendency to be lethargic and hence, may not be able to adhere to deadlines. The second fear can be that chances of a "brain freeze" are high in this option. Let us find out the ways to overcome these two major fears.

How to overcome the fear of missing deadlines?

If your desire to succeed in your life is unquenchable and strong, you will never allow the tendency of turning lethargic to over-power you. Therefore, check if your desire to succeed is strong enough. If you feel that you lack such a passion, you can not do anything about it. You will continue to lead an average or a below-average life.

On the other hand, if your desire is reasonably strong, you should consistently make it all the more strong. There is an easy way to do it. You should split your ultimate goal into smaller sub-goals. When you achieve a sub-goal or milestone, you should reward yourself suitably. By adopting this strategy, you will be able to improve the strength of your desire. This means that you should be taking continuous action in order to keep your desire intact and improve its strength. Never forget the fact that inaction will not take you even an inch forward towards your goal. Experts categorically say that by taking action regularly and consistently, you can keep the flame of your desire continuously burning in your belly

How to overcome the fear that you will be affected by "brain freeze?"

It is true that brain freeze may impact you if you are not surrounded by an ambiance in which all your field-related matters remain pervasive. If you are a regular employee of an organization, such an ambiance will prevail and so, you are not likely to face the challenge caused by a "brain freeze" because your mind will remain "rinsed" in the matters that pertain to your field. 

But when you are a freelancer, there are bound to be several diversions and digressions that may act as a stumbling block to your efforts to succeed. So, the chances of a brain freeze are high. To overcome this, you can adopt the following few steps. 

1. Keep strengthening the neural pathways of your brain.

Though you possess the academic knowledge of your field, you should keep educating yourself on a continuous basis. You should put in place a practicing routine for deepening and strengthening the neural pathways of your brain. One of the classic analogies is that of a much-used and worn path that runs through the forest. The more people have traveled on the path, the clearer and more usable it gets. So, keep sharpening your skills by having a consistent and regular practicing routine. This will help in honing your skills and in addition, will save you from the perils of a brain freeze.

2. Try to teach those who are willing to learn the subject of your expertise.

It has been scientifically proved that by teaching, one can learn and acquire a deeper and more internalized knowledge. Such internalized knowledge will remain with you till the end of your life.

3. Never hesitate to steal or borrow.

We are not advocating the crime of thieving nor are we advising you to borrow and get mired in debts. What we are suggesting is that you can steal or borrow the knowledge of others. There may be several other experts in your field. You should, if possible, get in touch and be in regular touch with them so that there will be knowledge-sharing between you and them. If it is not possible, you can connect with them on platforms such as LinkedIn so that you can get their updated ideas.

You may have heard of a tool known as the grabber-reacher. You should be like that tool because by being so, you can access and grab the knowledge of other experts in your field. 

By adopting these steps, you can surmount your major fears that may be blocking your decision of choosing the freelancing option.

What Should You Do If Your Boss Is an Idiot?

You may know and everyone in your team may also be aware that the leader of your team is an idiot and a brute. Though it is certain that this idiot will never help any of you grow in your career, you may find it difficult to convince the top management to replace him. You may wonder as to how to go about this situation. Of course, you may be lamenting with your spouse that your idiotic boss is not treating you properly, is not listening to your suggestions, and not heeding your suggestions. But do not worry. Here are a few suggestions that may help you handle situations that may arise during the course of working with an idiotic boss. 

1. The foremost point you should remember is that you can discuss your dislikes for the idiotic ways of your boss with your spouse but should never discuss them with any of your colleagues including your superiors, peers, and subordinates. Precisely put, you should not discuss them at your workplace at all.

Your grievance that your boss is not allowing you to grow is completely justifiable. But in the prevalent circumstances, you can not do anything about it. If you, under a spell of frustration, complain about your boss or express your grievance to some of your colleagues, it will certainly reach that particular officer. Remember that all managers will not be rational in their approach while dealing with such complaints. Your boss may view your complaints seriously and may take action against you. This will ultimately ruin your career. The colleagues with whom you shared your concerns may not view your situation sympathetically. In fact, some of them will feel happy when you are penalized for your complaints.

2. Therefore, instead of going about complaining, you should make all possible efforts to improve your focus. Your focus should not only be on your career growth but on those aspects that will improve the standing of your company in the industry as well. For example, you should try to come out with innovative ideas for improving the business of your organization. This will help in keeping your mind stress-free. You will be able to divert your mind from your concerns and grievances and attend to those matters that will help in the growth of the company. 

3. If this idiotic boss continues making wrong decisions, you can have a frank discussion only with him and not with anyone else in the company. You should take the very important step of recording your views on email messages or other forms of communication also. This will help you show to the top management that you have already raised concerns on those decisions that the boss has made and that may have proved to be detrimental for the growth of the company.

In other words, you should let the top management know, of course, at the most appropriate time, that you are an alert and sincere employee who is committed to improving the growth trajectory of the company. This will go a long way in getting due recognition from the top management at the right time. This will also open up lots of opportunities for helping you grow in the company.