Happy Labor Day to readers of this career success blog in the USA. Labor Day was big in our house when I was a kid. We were a very strong union family. I remember standing in line at the union hall to get free food during the steel strike of 1959. Those were tough times. My father put two kids through college working in a union job at American Bridge.
Labor Day was also the end of summer. When I was a kid, we began school on the Tuesday after Labor Day and ended the day before Memorial Day. Times have changed, kids get more breaks during the year and start later and go longer than we did.
Because this is a holiday – and I’m planning a long bike ride — this will be a relatively short post. It begins with a cute story that’s been around since I was a kid – and it’s a great play on words. But if you read it and take it to heart, you’ll see that it contains some great career advice. Check it out…
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody knew Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done
As we move into the last four months of the year, I urge you to be Somebody – the person who does what everyone can do, but nobody (or very few people) actually does.
Tweet 21 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “You’re in charge! Commit to taking personal responsibility for creating your life and career success.” In other words, be somebody, be the person who does what others won’t in order to create the career success you deserve. Tweet 33 in Success Tweets echoes that thought. “No one is going to do it for you. Adopt the motto, ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me’.”
When you take personal responsibility for your career success, you eliminate blame, stop complaining, and stop being a victim. You take charge of your life. You become somebody. You can demonstrate your commitment to taking personal responsibility for your career success by responding positively to the people and events and events in your life – especially when they are less than positive. I frequently offer this advice to my career success coach clients.
You also demonstrate your commitment to your career success – to yourself and to the world – by doing three things. First, take personal responsibility for your career success. Only you can make you a career success. You must be willing to do the things necessary to succeed. Second, set high goals – and then do whatever it takes to achieve them. Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks. You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals, dreams and career success.
George Bernard Shaw is my favorite playwright. I love what he has to say about taking personal responsibility for your life and career success…
“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
I know that I want my life to be a splendid torch that burns long and brightly. That’s why I choose to commit to taking personal responsibility for my life and career success. This Labor Day this career success coach is here to tell you that reveling in hard work is the best way to create the life and career success you want and deserve.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for creating the life and career scareer uccess they want and deserve. Follow the career advice in Tweet 21 in Success Tweets. Be somebody. Set high goals – and do whatever it takes to accomplish them. React positively to the people and events in your life – especially the negative people and events. Relish the days when you have a lot to do, and then go on and do it. Take great satisfaction from working hard and seeing the results of your labor. Take personal responsibility for your life and career success. No one else will. Adopt the motto, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” When was the last day when you were truly busy? How did you feel at the end of it? If you’re an achiever – someone who is committed to your life and career success – I bet you felt exhilarated and ready to go the next day. When you commit to taking personal responsibility for your career success, you react positively when life throws those inevitable curve balls your way. You choose to move forward. You find ways around life’s little problems. These positive choices will put you on the path to the career success you want and deserve.
That’s my Labor Day career advice on being somebody and doing whatever it takes to create the life and career success you deserve. What do you think? Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.
Bud
PS: I opened my new membership site on September 1. It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations. To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb. You can find out about the membership site and get your free copy of I Want YOU by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.com.
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