Career is an important part of our lives, not just in context of earning money, but also when it comes to self-realization, confidence, overall satisfaction and our identity. If you wish to elevate your career, there are certain steps you could take and good changes you could make regardless of your industry or seniority.
Underpromise and overdeliver
If you’re excited and enthusiastic about your work, which, of course, is a great thing, it can happen that you exaggerate a bit or overestimate your capabilities at a given time. It doesn’t have to be anything drastic, but if you create expectations you cannot deliver on, you can get in trouble and send a negative message instead.
For instance, if you have a project to finish, and you think you will need around a week, it’s always better to give yourself a bit more time when committing to a deadline. Extra day or two will be a great buffer (in case of unexpected situations or challenges), and it will also give you room to over-deliver and delight your coworkers and team leaders/managers.
If you commit to finishing the project within a week and deliver as expected, the reaction wouldn’t be as positive as if you finished a bit earlier than expected.
Of course, if you deliver even slightly after the deadline, you can’t expect the reaction to be positive at all. That’s why, in the end, being too enthusiastic and overestimating your capabilities can get you in trouble. Remember the three situations we listed, and imagine that you finished project in a week. In reality, it took you the same time, but depending on what you promised, the results would be drastically different.
Set realistic expectations and try to over-deliver. It’s always better to show your enthusiasm through work (results), than to show it by words, and then fail to deliver on promises.
Stay up to date and have a learner’s mindset
We live in exciting times with a lot of constant innovation and new discoveries in every field, which is really amazing. On the other hand, it is also challenging, as we always need to adapt to the newest trends and keep up with innovation.
If you think of your previous education, and go back a few years in time, the chances are that something you’ve learned back in the days is totally different today. Maybe there are other tools or ways of doing it, or maybe your job as such didn’t even exist at the time. Just think of how many people work with Social Media nowadays, and both Snapchat and Instagram were created less than 10 years ago, while Facebook saw the light of the day in 2004, became open for everyone in 2006 and needed a few year before it really took off.
In our environment nowadays, the only constant thing is change. And that’s why you have to stay up to date. Try out new tools, new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking… Get as much knowledge (and contacts) at different seminars, webinars, conferences and events. And remember to have a learner’s mindset: be open to new things, be open to failing and learning from your fails and try to find and use every possibility for improvement.
If you work hard and follow these 2 simple rules, we’re sure you can elevate your career and be happier and more satisfied both in professional and personal life.
