I send a career success quote to members of my career mentoring site. A recent quote came from David Rockefeller…
“Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.”
I like this quote because it reminds me of some of the advice in my book Success Tweets. Here’s a quick overview…
Training – Success Tweet 81: “Become a lifelong learner. The half-life of knowledge is rapidly diminishing. Staying in the same place is the same as going backwards.
If you want to become an outstanding performer, you need to become a lifelong learner. Louis L’Amour, the great American writer of stories about the old west, captures the essence of lifelong learning…
“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”
I know a lot about career and life success. I’ve written several books on it. I give lots of talks about it. I’ve coached hundreds of people – helping them build the life and career success they want and deserve. I write this blog. At one point, I thought I knew it all.
And you know what? Every time I write about life and career success, every time I speak about it, every time I coach someone offering my career advice, I gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create life and career success
I begin anew every day, doing whatever I can to learn about life and career success so I can pass on this knowledge and wisdom to others. I choose to keep learning. So should you. I’ve learned that if you don’t keep learning, you don’t stand still – you fall behind in the game of life. I’ve also learned that what I learned after I knew it all was some of the best and most important of my learnings.
Discipline – Success Tweet 97 “Today, do the things others won’t do; so tomorrow you can do the things they can’t do.”
I got this one from Jerry Rice an American Football player. He is in the NFL Hall of Fame. When he retired, he held all of the important records a wide receiver could amass. I’ve never seen anyone better – and I’ve watched a lot of football over the years. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Sundays meant two things – church and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Jerry Rice was well known for his commitment to fitness. He worked out harder and longer than any other pro football player. When he was asked the secret of his success, he said, “I am willing to do the things today that others won’t do, so I can do things on Sunday that they can’t do.” In other words, work hard, prepare, commit to taking personal responsibility for your own success.
Hard Work – Success Tweet 100: “Care about what you do. If you care a little, you’ll be an OK performer. If you care a lot, you’ll become an outstanding performer.
I care about helping people create the life and career success they want and deserve. I care a lot. That’s why I wrote Success Tweets and I give it away for free. That’s why I wrote a series of blog posts explaining each of the 141 tweets in more detail. I care so much about this that I committed to writing 700 or 800 words every day for 28 weeks. I care a lot about helping you achieve the kind of career success you deserve. And I know that this caring will pay off in me becoming an outstanding career success coach – somebody who gives really great career advice.
What are the kinds of things that you can do that go above and beyond, that demonstrate your commitment to your own success? Make a list. Then go about doing these things regularly. Care.
It takes courage to care. Because when you care, you put yourself out there. You do your best. And doing your best can be a scary thing. When you care, when you consciously do your best and fail, it is heartbreaking. But at least you have the satisfaction of knowing you did your best.
I remember when I applied to graduate school at Harvard. I decided that I was going to demonstrate to myself how much I cared by writing the very best application I could. I wasn’t going to let myself off the hook if I didn’t get accepted by saying, “I could have written a better application, but I just didn’t spend the time I should have.”
When I put my application in the mailbox – we still did quaint things like that back in the old days – I was proud of what I had written. I knew it was the very best I could do. I was also frightened because I knew that my best might not be good enough. After all, both of my other degrees were from state schools. Who was I to think that those kind of credentials would get me accepted at Harvard?
I cared about the quality of my application, so I did the very best I could. The story in this case has a happy ending. I was accepted and got my degree. Even if I had not been accepted, I would have been proud of myself because I cared enough to write the best application I could, and I dared enough to admit it to myself.
Training, Discipline and Hard Work – three keys to success. Put them to work in your life and watch your career flourish.
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 https://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.
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