Who do you work for?
A while back, on behalf of one of our clients, I interviewed a job candidate who was looking to change career tracks and get into a particular industry. He and I had a pleasant conversation, talking about the industry and his potential place in it. He said he’d been interviewing with people for about six months.
During our conversation, he said one of the people he interviewed with suggested he get his license (a requirement for being able to work in that industry) and then come back to talk more about a position.
When I asked him how far along he was with the necessary exam and licensure, he said he had not started. I asked him why, and he gave several reasons why he hadn’t made any progress. All of these reasons were legitimate but not really obstacles—just minor challenges. However, in his mind they were good excuses for not taking action.
This is a perfect example of someone confusing what they want to do versus what they’re willing to do. This job candidate wanted to be in this industry (and had spent months pursuing job leads), but he just wasn’t willing to do what it really would take to achieve his goal.
Sports psychologist Kevin Elko asks: “Are you living in circumstances or living in vision?” In other words, are you letting your circumstances prevent you from achieving what you want, or are you overcoming those circumstances in order to get what you ultimately want in life?
Taking Charge
Before I get too preachy, let me give an example of this from my own life and experience. Years ago, when I was working for a big company, I saw another manager use an Excel-like program to help him with forecasting sales. I realized that this tool would help me in my manager duties also, so I asked my boss if the company would pay for me to attend a class to learn how to use the software. He said the company would not pay for the training, so I didn’t take the class.
About one year later, I left to start my own business. Guess what training I paid for—and completed—first?
When I worked for someone else, I let them be in control of my success and my future. When I began working for myself, I was in control of that. It was up to me, and I took the necessary steps I needed to reach my own potential.
Who do you work for? What have you done to be the best in your field? How are you setting yourself up for success?
If, for example, you are an assistant project manager with six months of experience, are you in the top 25% of all assistant project managers in your industry with six months’ experience? Where do you stand when measured against your peers? Many people don’t know. Why not ask your manager?
And if your manager doesn’t know, ask for a meeting so you can sit down and determine where you are in your career. If you’re not there yet, find out what the top 25% does that you are not doing. Figure out what you need to do in order to get there. Make a list of these to-dos, and then start doing them!
Take control of your success and your future.
One of my clients reminded me recently of a great quote from the story of Olympic runner and World War II survivor Louis Zamperini. You likely will remember him from the book Unbrokenand the movie by the same name. Louis’s older brother, Pete Zamperini (who first encouraged Louis to run track in high school), used to tell him: “If you can take it, you can make it.” That applies to regular life as well as the undeniably extraordinary life Louis lived.
In the end, your success is really up to you. Remember that. It’s how you do what you do better.