You’ve worked hard and devoted yourself to the organization and you’re eagerly awaiting the promotion letter that you feel you deserve. Much to your sorrow, your boss announces the promotion of your rival, who seems to be getting all the luck in his job. Of course, it almost never is due to luck – your co-worker has been advancing rapidly because he possesses certain (obtainable) advantageous character traits, and you should aim to adopt some of them.
Here are some crucial characteristics/attitudes that you can adopt from people who get ahead in their careers.
Be confident
Exuding confidence is an essential technique you require to impress your colleagues and your bosses. Those who advance in their jobs often possess immense confidence in their lives and in their careers. But remember not to confuse confidence with arrogance; the latter will certainly inflict more harm than benefit.
Be open to challenges
Rather than shirking away your responsibilities when faced with a lengthy or demanding project, consider it an opportunity for you to learn, grow and enhance your professional skills. Embracing challenges is often an effectual mind-set to adopt in your career and can serve as a signal to your bosses that you are one who takes the initiative to lead your peers to solve difficult tasks.
Take failures as opportunities to learn
As Henry Ford famously said: “failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Do not be afraid of failing, instead adopt an optimistic mind-set when dealing with failures and recognize all the values and lessons that you learn just from taking a misstep. It is critical to incorporate these lessons to your approach to future tasks and strive for success!
Be open to feedback
Instead of seeing feedback as criticism of your work, see it as a constructive and beneficial. People who move ahead are often very accepting towards feedback; in fact, they yearn for it and recognize its importance as a tool to improve their professional skills.
Remain positive
No one enjoys the company of a pessimist, less so one who only identifies problems, rather than contributes to the solutions. Having an optimistic, upbeat attitude towards work, no matter how challenging and impossible the tasks that you’re assigned to might seem, is imperative to overcoming challenges.
Be an effective team player
As clichéd as it might sound, being a constructive and flexible team player truly is a fundamental characteristic that you need to master to excel at your work. Rather than shirking responsibilities or reassigning duties, focus on achieving results together with your teammates.
Be hungry for success
Above all, having a drive for success is a necessary to get ahead in your career. While having high aspirations and being highly motivated to prove that you’re a worthy candidate for a promotion is vital, remember that it is unwise to achieve success at the expense of the wellbeing of your peers.
