Being the best

30 Jul Being the best

I get frequently asked what advice I would give to a professional that wants to advance in their career – become the best.

The answer depends on the person asking the question.  The answer is also difficult.

What can I do to help this professional achieve what they want and hope they don’t take any advice (that they asked for) as a personal insult?

What do they want out of their career?  How willing are they to try new things (open minded)?  How disciplined are they to do what is required?

If I give them the “hard truth” of what it takes – are they going to give up before they even start?

This gives us an opportunity to look at and study others that are the best in their field/profession/career.  It reminds us that there are attitudes and actions already taken by others that are proven to help professionals advance in their career – successfully.

As I share information about being the best – use this information for yourself in a positive way.  Please don’t use this information to criticize yourself or make less of yourself.  Remember that there is no one there to protect you from yourself when you decide to criticize you.  Be kind to you.  The following is advice – you don’t have to like it at all.  It is presented here because this is what those that became the best actually did or recommended.  It is not a complete list, but a good start.

Enjoy!

Attitudes of Others That Became the Best:

1. Be brave, even if you are not.  Be willing to make mistakes.
2. Don’t burn bridges with others – you rely on the team around you to be the best as a team – make the effort to admire and find something to like about them.
3. Don’t focus on past mistakes, learn from them and move on.
4. Remember that you always have enough time.
5. Spend less time worrying about who is right and more time learning what is right.
6. Stop blaming others.  Take responsibility for every area of your life.  If something isn’t the way you want it – what did you do to make it better?  (gossip and complaining to peers doesn’t accomplish anything other than civil unrest and hurts the entire team)
7. The importance of being the best is not what we get from it, but what we become because of it.
8. When facing a difficult situation, act as though it is impossible to fail.
9. Willing to do things that others don’t want to.
10. See the gain, not the pain.
11. Best is an attitude.  Take the good with the bad and keep on going.  It gets hard, you get tired, and sometimes you feel burnt out – but you still find a way to keep going.
12. The Best own mistakes and are inspired by them.  They openly talk about what they have done wrong and what they learned from it.
13. The Best know there is always more to learn – even when they are called the best by others.
14. The Best know that being the best is a journey – not a destination – even when they are considered the best – they know that if they stop striving to the best, they won’t be the best.