SONALI CHAKRABORTY chalks out 5 lesser known success mantras to unlock your career potential
We all dream of having successful careers and gaining recognition in our line of work. Some professionals do exceptionally well in their career trajectory – quicker promotions, larger pay packages compared to their peers, always handling high value projects – What sets them apart? What makes them tick? The answer lies in some underrated characteristics that are strong predictors of career success. Let’s look at some of these below:
1. Self-control
Without this one characteristic, many a times even the most highly intelligent, skilled talent fails to achieve their goals. Many times we only think of self-control from the negative dimensions of restraining ourselves or having to make sacrifices. However, self-control goes way beyond – it is the ability to manage yourself and make the right choices, especially under undesirable conditions. Practising self control helps professionals become more productive rather that reactive in dynamic work dimensions. In today’s modern age of information overload and distractions, self control allows you to focus better and truly immerse yourself in building expertise.
2. Transparency
One of the fastest ways to elevate your chances of success at the workplace is being transparent; Being truly honest and open about your views, your wins, and failures. Do not worry about failures hurting your reputation, instead champion it as a stepping stone of doing things the right way! Stay away from the flashy responses, over flaunting – instead display a raw, honest and clear thought structure with the people around you. Transparent employees become better decision makers – they understand how their decisions will impact their teammates and the company.
However, transparency is collective journey – both employees and employers need to practice transparency at all levels to have a more engaged and inclusive workforce. Transparency also helps reduce stress, improve work-life balance, and foster meaningful inter-personal relationships at work.
3. Adaptability
The business case for adaptability is as strong as it ever has been. Every professional in his lifespan at work will go through change of some magnitude. Sometimes they could be smaller ones like a change in policies and processes or immense ones like change in leadership or a company getting acquired. Things will change- what worked yesterday can’t be guaranteed to work tomorrow. There are always disruptions that are just around the corner. Professionals with high levels of adaptability come with an open mindset – they are willing to learn and are receptive towards newer ideas. They can sail through a period of uncertainty or transition with calm and poise and can embrace new directions with a positive attitude.
4. Curiosity
Organisations that want to break their status quo and overcome stagnation; hire team members that have a curious bent of mind. Curiosity at the workplace is a catalyst for innovation and growth – it gives companies an edge over its competitors. Curious employees come with a genuine appetite to learn new things and have a fresh perspective towards workplace challenges. Curiosity empowers them to ask questions, pushback on conventional solutions and resolve problems without frustration. They find it easier to network, innovate, and commit to continuous learning.
5. Readiness to Fail
Professionals who can shift their perspective and view failure as an opportunity to learn, grow, and adapt are often the ones who celebrate success early on in their careers. Unfortunately, in a high-achieving environment, failure is often viewed as an immovable obstacle and sometimes even the end of the road. Forward progress can only be made when we experiment, navigate through different challenges, but also accept that failure could just be around the corner. Failure allows us to identify things that did not work out and eventually create a map of actionable that leads to success. It needs to be viewed as a powerful tool that improves resilience to setbacks and allows us to grow. Bills Gates once said, “It is fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” No Ivy League education or academic publication can give you the exact formula for success! However, committing to some of the above traits can help you unleash your professional potential. These underrated characteristics when practiced over time can help professionals successfully pursue meaningful, long-term career goals.
