Success at work is a hard slog

“Dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.”

                                                                                     ----- Vince Lombard

There are three positions or spots that you can be in your career and they are ease, progress and phobia. In order to discern where you are, you need to introspect. You can reflect upon a specific work concern or your present standing or even ponder over some not so old incident involving you.  You need to query your own self as to where exactly you stand. It is likely that your response highlights a place where there are no or little confrontations, no tensions and no bolts from the blue – no bumpy rides to sum up. The inference would be clear – you are perhaps in the precinct of ease.

            As you continue with the above exercise on a continual basis, you would realize that you seek to do something else or be in a different place. The reasons why you are where you are could well be many – domestic liabilities, ill-health or undemanding workplace environment, to name a few. Whatever be the contributory factor, such a situation is detrimental in the long run and could well be a formula for failure.

            A position of ease is generally that moment in time when people chasing success get into tight spots. You may start harbouring a ‘could not care less’ attitude and even put down your feelings in writing as a complaint. What is likely to follow is that openings and prospects will fly past you and you will gradually be thrust aside from the scheme of things of others. Eventually, your efforts and endeavours will be treated as mundane; you will simply be like a horse also running on the course. Your contributions will neither be acknowledged nor denied. In short you will not be included in any planning or decision-making loop.

            The above highlights the rapidity at which ease can be transformed into trepidation with little or no prospects of moving up the professional ladder.

            All progress is active and full of life; it also has a tendency to spread out. But it can concurrently be nerve-racking and occasionally sore. Instances are not rare when progress is thrust on us. An additional assignment, newer responsibility or an appointment raise are all chances flung at you; and are as good as progress thrust on you. You could well be looking for something different and new; and all set for that something different and new. Unfortunately, your desire does not fructify at all and you are impelled to take control of the circumstances and move your cart in the preferred direction. 

            The way to move forward from the stage that you may be in currently is in the acronym MOVE itself as under:

·   Mingle:   You need to mingle with thought leaders because progress does not take place in emptiness. In doing so, you reinforce your information plinth and get to know people whom you can try to be like. Within the gamut of mingling also lies taking note of what they say and reading about them. In short, you need to inhale the oxygen of those who are stand above you.

·   Open-out:  Making progress is habitually related to perceiving reason in what you intend doing. You ought to relax and think things over as pertinent to your role and outputs towards to your establishment. It generally happens that we get so much engrossed in current happenings that there is a tendency to forget whatever we have attained or accomplished. The fact is that unless you do so, progress will be difficult to come and hold out no charm.

·   Volunteer:  They say that nothing is real work, unless you do something extra and that too willingly. That something extra need not necessarily be your expertise. You should never ever think that something that you have not done before will be difficult going.  If you love shouldering additional responsibilities and enjoy doing so, success is already yours. Success in this context means further progress and by and large, increased job content.

·   Explore:  People get to know those who seek to work in demanding and testing environments. You should be on the lookout for vacancies and arenas of fast progress that are apparently challenges by themselves. For this, you will have to do keep making enquiries on a continuous basis and take a plunge at an appropriate time. In doing so, your aspirations, open mindedness and alertness will be come to the fore and be noticed. Worst comes to worst, you may not be selected, but the very fact that you went through the process manifests progress in a wider term.

The very object of progress is to shed your easy-going mindset and unconcerned, relaxed attitude. It also implies shedding all apprehensions that you may harbour. Apprehensions entail fear and serve as impelling agents for interim periods only; they have a quick-fix quality which does not boost progress. Progress and growth, conversely can broaden your horizon and expand your expertise base. In fact and in all likelihood, you are able to reach a position that did not even dream of.

It is the same case with all career openings and prospects – you definitely require a line of attack and plan of action. If your progress is unrestrained and uninhibited, you may feel good initially. Thorns are always soft at first; their pricks can be felt as they grow. Similar is progress. Steady growth always calls for homework and grounding together with assistance and encouragement. Needless to state, to be able to achieve this, you need to be imaginative and farsighted. If you have a smart adviser or an sharp boss who can be relied upon, you will move forward faster than usual, feeling more confident and more positive.

Therefore, if you were to ask yourself the question, “Where am I as concerning my progress?” the answer ought to be coming out straight and with no ambiguity. And never ever forget that it is the man who can move forward once the exertion becomes agonizing is the man who invariably emerges successful.