Brand Yourself as a Positive, Serious Person

TheMuse.com is one of my favorite career sites.  They do a great job providing useful, common sense information about life and career success.  This article focuses on what not to say at work if you want to get ahead.

https://www.themuse.com/advice/12-things-youll-never-hear-a-successful-person-say-at-work?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%20Email%20List&utm_campaign=12%20Things%20You%27ll%20Never%20Hear%20a%20Successful%20Person%20Say%20at%20Work

These 12 certainly are all things to avoid.

Numbers 9 and 10 really got it for me.  My college days are long past — I graduated in 1972 — and my big drinking days ended way back in the 1980s.  But when I read this advice, I realized it was something from which I would have benefited way back when.

I was a party kind of guy in college — social chairman of my fraternity, a rugby player, all around fund guy.  My partying continued as a young professional.  I worked hard during the week and hit it hard on the weekends.  All in good fun, right?

I might have thought so, but what I didn’t realize was that people at work (especially the people who counted) were also hearing about my fun times.  At the time, I was working for a very large company in a rather small town.  Everybody knew everybody else.  I would arrive for work on Monday and my boss could tell me where I’d been and who I’d been with all weekend.

I had branded myself as a party guy — not someone serious about his career.  This resulted in my not being taken seriously.  It also killed my chances for a couple of promotions.  I had to leave that company and start over somewhere new.  Fortunately, these mistakes were early in my career and I was able to rebound from them.

The important point to remember here is that you always want to present yourself as a serious professional.  Avoiding the 12 topic areas in the article above is a great way to start.

Your career mentor,

Bud

PS: I write this blog to help people create the life and career success they want and deserve. Now I’m going one step further. I’ve created a membership site in which I’ve pulled together my best thoughts on success. And, as a reader of this blog, you can become a member for free. Just go to www.BudBilanich.com/join to claim your free membership. You’ll be joining a vibrant and growing community of success minded professionals. I hope to see you there.