This can be the Secret Weapon Employees Can Use for Their Growth

You are already employed but you want to have quicker career growth. But in the present-day context, when there is cut-throat competition everywhere including in workplaces, this aspiration seems to be a difficult one. The question now is: Is it really impossible to accelerate your career growth? Experts in the career field emphatically say that it is certainly possible to achieve faster career growth. But it may not be a cakewalk. It needs some purposeful efforts. More particularly, you need to use a secret weapon for achieving your aim. You may be eager to know what this weapon is. Let us find out. But once you know and use this weapon appropriately, you are certain to become the most valuable employee of your company. Needless to say, the quick career growth you have been aspiring for will automatically be ready for your grab as well.

How KK could achieve this quick career growth?

KK was a teacher in a school that was run by a missionary. Compared to many other teachers of the school, she was younger, though her academic qualifications were as good as those of others, if not better. But when the school management decided to open a new branch, they appointed KK as its principal. You may wonder why. KK had less experience than many other teachers. She was younger than many of the teachers as well. But what made the management decide to appoint her as the principal of their new branch? The reason was KK, knowingly or unknowingly, was using the secret weapon  

Please do not come to the conclusion that teachers alone can use this weapon. Employees who are working in other fields can use this weapon also. Unfortunately, this secret weapon may not be visible to many including you because it is sandwiched between selfishness and ego. But if you do not identify this weapon to use it appropriately, you are likely to get frustrated. As an expert puts it, "frustration can be a ruthless career killer." Your focus will get blurred and hence, you will not make smart and wise decisions. Thanks to this focus-shrinker, you will find it more difficult to accomplish your aim having quick career growth.  

This again will corrupt the files of your brain. You will start thinking "I am not good enough to achieve quicker career growth." The only way to get over this is to first take the following step for getting rid of these corrupt files of your brain.

Instead of always thinking of your shortcomings, start focusing on your positives. This means when your mind wanders and starts thinking about your negative points, you should tune out your mind first. You should then turn the radar of your mind towards your positives. Of course, you may find this exercise difficult to do in the initial stages but if you consistently practice and bring back your mind and force it to think only of your positives, you will succeed in this step in due course of time. Remember that when you shoot for the moon, there may be many misses. But you should not fail to re-aim.

Once you remove the corrupt files from your brain, you will be ready to use the secret weapon that can help you achieve accelerated career growth. The time is now ripe to talk about this weapon.

When you are hired, you sign certain documents that state that you will be discharging the duties or tasks assigned to you and for this, the company will be paying you a certain salary. But if you think that you can achieve quicker career growth just by doing your tasks and completing them on time, you are very much wrong. In fact, authorities who manage almost all companies expect something more from you. But your ego may say, "I am doing the tasks assigned to me and the company is paying me for this. How can the company expect something beyond this?" If this is your attitude, you can never achieve quicker career growth. 

Now, what does this mean? You should be ready to do much more. This is the secret weapon, KK, the teacher in the school, used. Apart from teaching the students of her class, she assumed other responsibilities as well such as managing the office of the school, distributing books, organizing meetings, and so on. In short, she was shouldering more responsibilities, though she was appointed only for teaching. She could have emulated other teachers and focused just on her teaching duties. But she did not. She was ready to shoulder more responsibilities. That paid off handsomely. The management did not think even a minute for appointing her as the principal of the new branch they opened. 

Therefore, the secret weapon that can get you quicker career growth is: You should do much more than paid for. It may be in the form of becoming the go-to person for having innovative suggestions for the improvement of the company's business, it may be actual work in the form of assisting other teams in their projects, and so on. There are various ways of doing this. If you apply your mind, you will get innumerable ideas. Therefore, use this weapon and achieve quicker growth in your career.

How to Win Despite Facing Failure after Failure

"I am facing failure after failure and hence, there is no guarantee that I will win when I make my next attempt. Therefore, I will stop trying." No excuse can be lamer than this. But we hear this excuse quite often, be it an examination, a job interview, an attempt to discover something, reduce weight, or to cement a broken relationship.

Let us take two examples. Let us first take the example of a person who is looking for a career and who has attended tens of interviews but has not landed a job. Let us assume that it is you. You may be putting forth a lot of effort into preparing yourself for the interviews. You may possess extensive knowledge in your field. But the question is: Is your preparation effective? Is your efficiency while making your efforts adequate enough? If your preparation is not effective or purposeful or if you are not efficient while making your efforts, you may never land a job you are dreaming of. 

The second example is that of an entrepreneur who struggles to achieve the targets that he or she has set. Let us again assume that you are the entrepreneur. Though there can be several extraneous factors that may govern the outcome of your efforts, there are a few over which you may have control. 

Regardless of whether you are a job aspirant or a struggling entrepreneur, you can bid adieu to failures and usher in success. But you have to adopt a few simple tactics for this. Let us find out what they are.

1. Failures are experiences. So, learn from them.

You have faced failure after failure but what have you learned from these failures? Had you learned from your failures, you might not have allowed repeated failures. In fact, failures are revelations, say experts. If you have not learned anything from your failures, it means you have not asked the right questions that can teach you the right lessons. The normal questions most of the folks like you ask are: "Of all the people, why is it I am only unlucky?" "Who is to blame for my failures?" "How can life be so unfair to me?" But these questions do not and can not help you learn. The only question that can help you is: "What is the right step I should take for improving my situation?" 

This question focuses on the solutions and not on the issues or failures you are facing. This shift in your focus will help you find the appropriate solutions that can take you along the winning path.

2. Introspect to find out the wasteful, energy-sapping things you involve yourself in.

At the end of every day, recollect all the tasks you did during the day. This will help you find out the wasteful and energy-sapping things you involved yourself in. If it is necessary, you can even maintain a journal for carrying out this exercise. The intention of this exercise is to eliminate destructive behaviors and replace them with purposeful ones. But this exercise should be carried out with level-headedness and objectivity. Otherwise, your emotions and bias will not only cloud the findings of your exercise but will induce you to make stupid decisions.

 

3.Re-consider your field

When things are not working out the way you want, it is better you revisit your fundamentals. You can even change your specialty. In fact, experts advise job aspirants to have more than one option. Similarly, entrepreneurs can think of diversifying their business. But you should guard against becoming a "messy-eater," who has all the items on her platter and does not know how and what to eat. You should guard also against becoming a "humanoid" that undertakes "mechanical pursuits." This means you should put your heart and soul into this exercise. In short, you should re-wild your brain to know the best options that suit you. Once you are ready with such options, you can easily set your compass in those directions for having smooth navigation. Of course, the exposure, the environment, and the resources available to you play a major role in the choices you make.

If you find it difficult to choose your options, you can use the following advice suggested by experts. 

Dispense with the age-old generic myths about experimenting. Do your research on various options including those others consider as funny, unconventional, and unorthodox. But remember that you should make your choices coldly. This means that you should not use the emotional prism but the prism of self-interest. You will ultimately find the options that suit you.

4. Acquire H.I.S.

Every field or industry needs people with high skills. Since companies are ready to pay hugely for these skills, they are known as H.I.S. or High-Income Skills. You have to make all possible efforts to acquire these skills. If you are one among those who are caught in the ocean of generalists, you will earn only mediocre income. On the contrary, if you are a specialist and if you possess high-income skills, you will be able to "make a splash" in your field.

If you are a struggling entrepreneur, you should make it a point to hire only those who have such skills because these employees will help you in your efforts to bring about a turn-around in your business. 

5. Remember that success will not happen just by accident.

If you think that some Jesus will descend from the Heavens and hand the platter of success to you, you are terribly wrong. You have to make purposeful efforts to come out of the fog of your struggles. Proper preparation and robust plans will help you trump your situation. Though you should try to have crystal-clear clarity over what you should do, there is no need that you should wait for a laundry list that consists of specific strategies or steps for making your plans. Of course, there is a viable way that will help you in simplifying this task. It is known as "reverse engineering." If you embrace this way, there is no need for you to re-invent the wheel. Just go through how those, who have already achieved success, have undertaken their journey. You can adopt the same steps but ensure to modify them to suit you and your situation.   

Once you start adopting these steps, you will stop mourning your past failures. On the other hand, you will find that you have created a firewall against failures.

Are You Not Happy in Your Job? No Worries. Here Is a Solution

A number of employees seem to feel that they are getting their salary for being unhappy. To put it in plain language, they are not happy with their job. They begin their day by 6 or 7 AM and get ready for the so-called 9 to 5 grind. But this 9 to 5 official day is certainly a false statement because the official day of many of these employees starts much before 9 AM and ends much later than 5 PM. This means there is every reason these employees hate their job. But what is the remedy to come out of this rut?

In this context, the findings of a study are worth considering. The study says that on average, a child laughs 300 times during a day. On the contrary, an adult laughs only five times daily. But these unhappy employees may not laugh at all. Some of them may have forgotten to laugh also.

But is quitting the job the solution? You may feel scared even to think of taking this step. But you may not know that it is blissful not to have any job. 

The case of these employees reminds us of an anecdote told by Anthony DeMello, who is considered a spiritual author and mystic.

There was a trader who was selling camels and he was walking across the Desert of Sahara along with his slaves. When there was night, the group decided to stay at a particular place. The slaves had just nineteen pegs but there were 20 camels with them. When they asked their master, he asked them to just act as if they were tying the 20th camel also and told that the camel would stay put.

The next morning, when it was time to move, the slaves untied the camels and all the animals except the 20th camel started moving. In fact, the 20th camel refused to move even an inch from its place. When the slaves asked the master, he reminded them that they had to act as if they were untying the camel. Only then, the animal would move. They carried out this instruction and the 20th camel also started walking.  

 

Most of the employees think that if they quit their job, the decision will ruin their life. They cannot pay their bills and run their families. It is true they need money. Without money, they cannot live. But how to beat the monotony and eliminate the unhappiness from their lives? Here is a suggestion.

The suggestion is: HAVE A PASSION PROJECT.

If you have such a passion project and make it a point to pursue it daily either before heading to your workplace or after coming back, it will provide you the much-needed happiness. By taking every step related to this project, you will feel as if you have achieved something. Most importantly, it will save you from the burn-out you may be experiencing due to doing official tasks you hate the most. 

Experts have found out that such passion projects will improve your productivity at the workplace as well. 

Some of the examples of such passion projects are reading, skiing, hiking, painting, learning dancing, or music, or playing poker or bridge, In fact,  it can be anything. The best thing about such a passion project is that you will not feel any pressure in it. You need not prove yourself also. But it can do a world of good to you by destressing you and by helping you remain happy.  

The Most Important Step You Should Take to Succeed as an Employee

No organization can run without employees. As an expert puts it, "every organization needs employees. Similarly, the employees need the organization also. The simple fact is neither of them need be ashamed to admit this." Bur if you feel that you have not achieved success as an employee, it shows that you are not aware of the secret that can catapult you to the success-plank. Let us find out what it is. But its unfolding comes with a warning. You may not like it. But without it, you cannot achieve success as an employee.

Before the cat is let out of the bag, you should understand that there are a few uncomfortable facts. The first one is that you may have the habit of reading all the personal development and self-improvement books and articles for improving yourself as an employee. You may have taken up courses that have been designed by the so-called experts. You may have attended seminars and conferences of some of the big names in the personal development field. Though these books, seminars, and conferences can certainly do good, there is one particular thing you are missing out. That is what is impeding you from moving from your present spot to the level you wish to reach. 

What is this secret that no one has advised you till now? It is spelled as "MOMENTUM."

Momentum is the only ammunition that can help you surmount the challenges you encounter along your way. Momentum will alone help you maintain your motivation level even during challenging times. This means if you learn to generate momentum, it will be easy for you to achieve the goals you have set. 

If you think that by momentum, we mean that you should take big strides, you are wrong. It is enough if you take just one step forward. But you should take it daily and consistently. You may ask: "How long should I take these steps for reaching my goal?" It purely depends on your ability. In fact, there is no one-size-fits-all rule for this because every individual is different. 

But unfortunately, momentum is not a thing that comes by accident or that comes about naturally. You have to make deliberate efforts for creating it. Only then, you can move forward. Simply put, it first needs your intent and then, your efforts. Since you will be creating it, it is completely under your control. 

Unfortunately, a number of people wait for momentum to get created. They have to wait eternally because unless they make efforts intentionally, it will remain as an unborn child. But here is a caution. During the process of creating momentum which means taking a step on a consistent basis, you are likely to face bumps. You may get stuck as well. But these things should not deter you. You should keep taking the steps. If you find that there is a necessity to make modifications or changes to your course, you must not hesitate to make them also. 

The following are some of the momentum killers. If you succumb to them, you can never achieve success as an employee. 

Impediment #1. 

"I do not want to spend my hard-earned money on such things." This may be one of the impediments that can stop the creation of the momentum that can take you towards progress. You must understand the fact that if you are not ready to spend the required amounts to take up the studies that can help you in your progress, you will reach your destination very late. So, it should not be an excuse.

Of course, if you are a person without financial wherewithal, you are advised to make full use of the Internet. In fact, the Net contains millions of materials that can help acquire the knowledge or skills you require for fast-tracking your journey. Of course, you can visit libraries and read the right books that can improve your skills. But you should begin the process of creating the momentum IMMEDIATELY. If you sit idle and wait for things to happen, nothing is going to happen. 

Impediment #2. "I do not possess the required qualifications to show to my employer that I deserve a higher position." Of course, qualifications may show that you possess the knowledge or skills employers are looking for. But there are other ways to show your employers that you have the required skills. One of the best ways is to come out with killer-suggestions that can lift the business of your company to the stratosphere.

Coming out with such suggestions requires deliberate and purposeful efforts. There may be several resources available on the Net and in the library. You can read all of them. They may trigger your creativity. Even resources that are not related to your field will also help. You can use what is called the "cross-fertilization" technique for coming out with killer suggestions.

Therefore, not being able to spend money or not possessing the required qualifications are not real impediments. The impediment is YOU and YOU alone. You should be ready to dispense with the cobwebs in your mind so that you create the momentum that is required for taking you to the higher levels in your organization. Therefore, the simple mantra is: Keep taking just a step daily and consistently for creating this momentum. 

How to manage deadlines that cause high stress?

If you are an employee who faces frequent stress-causing deadlines or if you run a company that has to operate within strict deadlines, it is high time you learn to manage such situations. If you don't, it will turn to be a perilous mistake because you are likely to fall prey to the impact of such stress. Remember that the future is headed towards more stress-causing situations. The commercial landscape is changing fast, thanks to the very high competition that prevails in every field. Experts suggest that you should create productivity routines and practice them consistently and persistently so that they become your second nature. These productivity routines help in developing strong habits. Once you develop these habits, you can easily tackle any type of situation. More than anything, you will even start enjoying such stress-causing deadline situations.

But you may ask "where is the time to develop these strong habits?" There may be intermittent periods when you will have moderate work or not-so-stressful situations. You should use these periods for creating productivity routines and cultivating strong habits. In fact, if your desire to learn the ways to manage stress-causing deadlines is strong, you will be able to find time for this.

One of the most important habits you should develop is to use your time wisely. Experts strongly advise that the habit of managing time wisely will be of great use. Once you develop this habit, you will have time for putting in place appropriate systems for easily tackling even strict deadlines. 

Let us look at how high-performing athletes create productivity routines for managing their stress. If you observe these folks, you will find that they follow certain routines for practicing. It is their meticulous adherence to routines for practicing that helps them manage their pressure when they take part in big events. A classic example is that of Nathan Chen, the American skater, who competed in the Olympics when he was just 18. Did he face pressure? Yes. He did but it was a very minor one. What helped him in managing the pressure? The answer is that he had always been sticking to his routine and practicing incessantly.

In short, if you create productivity routines, keep practicing consistently and persistently, and develop the right habits such as prioritizing wisely and managing your time judiciously and make them your second nature, you will not feel the pressure even during stressful situations. 

This Secret Can Get You Big Success in Your Career

There are a number of employees who lament that they are not getting the recognition they deserve at their workplace. This means that they are not getting the success they want to achieve. They feel that they have stagnated, that the management does not give them the promotions they think are due to them, and that they are not getting the salary increases they have anticipated. If you belong to this group, it is high time you learn the secret that can get you big success in your career. Let us find out what this secret is.

But before we discuss this secret, it is imperative that you must work on a very important suggestion. The suggestion is that you must honestly evaluate your skills. The following checklist will help you do the evaluation effectively.

1. Are your skills relevant to the field in which you are working?

2. With your existing skills, can you make at least one huge promise to your managers? If you can, can you ensure to fulfill the promise? Of course, the promise should pertain to the growth of the company.

3. Do you feel that your skills are so compelling that the managers will think twice before losing your services?

4. Do you really think that your skills will benefit the company?

5. With your current level of knowledge, are you able to grasp the vision of your company? If you can, how do you propose to help the company achieve the vision?

6. If you were the manager, will you hire a candidate with the same level of skills that you currently possess?

The above checklist will help you in assessing your skills honestly.

Once you complete the evaluation process, you should go to the next step of taking action to fill up the lacunae, if any, in your skills. In fact, you have to be very aggressive in your approach. There should be no compromise because there is strong competition in the job market. Unless you keep updating your skills on a constant basis, you can not be confident of achieving huge success in your career. 

Let us now assume that you adopt an aggressive approach and acquire all the required skills that can help your company achieve its vision. What is the next step or what is the secret that can get you huge success in your career?

Be a great communicator.

Now that you have acquired all the required skills and you are ready to keep updating them, you should communicate to the management that you possess the skills they expect you to have. But how should you communicate? Experts advise that you should "show" them your skills. Mere words will not suffice. Even if you shout from the rooftops, nobody is going to believe you. You should prove your skills and only then, they will believe that you possess them. 

It is not necessary that there should be special or crisis situations to show that you possess the skills the management expects you to have. Even day-to-day tasks are enough for proving the skills. Experts suggest that you should delve deep into every task you are entrusted with so that you can find out how more efficiently you can carry out the task. Remember that there can be more than one way to do a task. You should find out the best, smartest, and the most cost-effective way and carry it out. If you understand and follow this suggestion scrupulously, you can certainly achieve a big success in your career. 

Can You Get Rich Even If You Are An Employee?

There is a general notion among people that only those who do business can become rich. You may also believe in this notion. But in reality, even those who are employed can become rich. The only point is you have to choose the right industry and work for the right company. You can then take steps for becoming a valuable employee for the company. Once your company starts reposing faith in you as you are a valuable employee, you should look for ways to graduate to the next level which is becoming an invaluable employee. Of course, you should know the industry standards and ensure that you get the remuneration you deserve. Of course, these efforts need your commitment, focus, and time. Let us now find out how should go about the whole process. 

1. Choose the right industry.

In any field, there are big organizations. If you get a chance to work for such companies, you will have ample scope for career growth. But remember that in such organizations, the competition will be very strong. This means you will be competing with other employees who are equally smart and committed, if not more, as you are. You should, therefore, make all possible efforts to stand out. Only then, you can command the remuneration you think you deserve. 

Your field may consist of small entities as well. But you should carefully choose that company that has great potential to grow. Only then, you will have a scope for growth in your career. Of course, in such small companies, you may not enjoy the environment that may be available in big corporations. But there will be less competition in these companies. You can push yourself based on the situations and the resultant responsibilities and prove your worth. Once you earn the respect of the top management of these small companies, you can easily earn very well and accelerate your journey towards riches.

2. How to become an employee who is valued by employers.

Proving yourself as an employee who can be valuable to the company is the next step to get rich. But this is not easy. If your commitment and ambition are sporadic and are not strong, you cannot become such an employee which means you can never get rich. Your salary will increase slowly and maybe in single-digit percentages. If you want to have extraordinary increases in your salary package year after year, you should be an extraordinary employee. There are such employees working in the corporate world and the increases some of these employees get in their salaries go even up to 100%. But how to become such a valued employee is the question. The following tips may help.

a) Work smart and bring out the optimum output by adopting innovative ways.

You should be smart enough to bring out your optimum output for which you should adopt innovative ways. But once you complete your work, do not remain idle. Offer your help to other departments. By doing so, you will be expanding your knowledge. Remember that managers of companies will come to know your cooperative attitude very soon. Experts advise that you can even go out of the way to help the staff working in other departments.

b) Try to complete the most difficult tasks as soon as you begin your day's work.

When you begin your official work in the morning hours, your energy level will be at its peak. Hence, you should complete all the difficult and complex tasks during these hours. Prioritize your tasks based not only on urgency and importance but on difficulty level as well. 

Experts advise that it is better you reach your office about 1 hour earlier than other employees and even your boss. This will help complete your tasks more quickly, easily, and without distractions. In the book "How to Become CEO," the author, Jeffrey J. Fox, says, “Arriving to work late signals you don’t like your job very much. Even if you prefer to come in late and stay late, staying late sends the signal that you can’t keep up or your personal life is poor.” By arriving early to the office and by completing your tasks more quickly, you are signaling to your managers that you are different from your peers. This will pave the way for your quick growth in the company.

c) Adopt an enthusiastic attitude.

You should never be a sourpuss. You may be highly talented but if you are a sourpuss, no one will like or respect you. On the other hand, if you are enthusiastic, everyone will happily mingle with you. Your positive attitude will rub on everyone and so, they will also try to do their best for the company. When the company grows, everyone can grow.

d) It is not wrong to say “Yes."

Never say "no" to your boss. Only then, he or she will support you and laud you for your efforts. If you are in the habit of saying "no" or arguing with your boss, you are either irritating him or her or putting spokes in his or her efforts. How can you then expect his or her support? Even if your boss asks you to do an extra task, you should readily take it up.

3) Never hesitate to make your accomplishments known to everyone in the company.

Don't be timid and keep your accomplishments within your bosom. Let them be known to the whole world. This is not boasting but it is self-promotion. But at the same time, guard against bragging. 

3. Graduating from the level of a valuable employee to the level of an employee who is invaluable to the company.

Of course, as an employee whom the managers value highly, you may be getting good salaries. But if you graduate to the next level, the company will never like to lose you. But how can you graduate to that level?

a) If you help your company increase its profits manifold, you will become one of its invaluable employees. There may be only a few like you. So, there may not be much competition for you. You can demand the compensation you think you deserve. In fact, the management itself will readily offer you hefty remuneration. 

By helping in the company's efforts to bring out new products or to improve their existing products, you can increase their profits. You can also come out with viable ideas and suggestions for reducing the costs as well. Similarly, you can give suggestions for marketing the products more effectively. 

Once you become such an invaluable employee of the company, the managers will not want to lose you. They will be ready to offer the best remuneration package as well. This will ultimately help you become rich.