7 Steps to Instant Career Success

Many people spend a lifetime “enduring” work rather than enjoying work and doing what they love, or what they are passionate about and successful at.

A series of articles and news reports went out recently that questioned the advice and expertise of doing what you love. Some experts suggested the wisdom of following a “passion” as a career may not be wise at all.Career Success

Despite this, there is still a significant amount of data suggesting that many successful people, including business managers and entrepreneurs are often most successful when they follow their passions, skills, talents and abilities, or in effect… following a career that encompasses the things they love.

Can you be successful doing what you love? Is it possible to find a success in a career, and make it blissful at the same time?

The simple answer may be yes. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey, employed persons spend 7.7 hours per day of a 24 hour day working, with most averaging 8 or more hours working. If this is the case, more people should be finding success and doing things they enjoy in their careers.

Follow Your Passion

While some have put down the idea of following your passion, many including Secretary Arne Duncan are still giving commencement speeches that encourage graduates to follow their heart when I comes to the future. And why not?

What makes your future bright is intention, commitment and common sense, not someone with a negative attitude about what passion can and cannot do. Many naysayers have recently suggested that it is impossible to make passion work for you, but this simply isn’t true.

Let’s say for example you have a passion for making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Surely, if you open a peanut butter and jelly sandwich stand, you may have a hard time launching a successful career unless you are offering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in an elementary school cafeteria.

What you need to learn how to do to make your passion successful for you, is learn to assess the demand for your passion in the market. What you need to learn how to do is adapt your passion to fit the needs of the market.

Become a chef with your masterful peanut butter and jelly making skills, and you can turn your passion into a hot commodity. Why not turn inventory and come up with a new peanut butter and jelly power bar that is the size of a quarter, that provides ten times the nutrition of a normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that marathoners can use when jogging the Boston Marathon? Now you have a hot product that has the potential to generate some serious income.

Turn your passion into a winning idea and sell yourself.

That is what makes passion work for entrepreneurs, and for individuals that want launch their passion into successful careers.

Use Your Time Responsibly

The most successful entrepreneurs and career oriented people are those that know how to manage time well. If you do not know how to prioritize, and if you are not organized, then you will not find much success in the modern career or workforce. One of the first questions that comes up on most interviewers lists is how do you prioritize things? If you do not know how to prioritize things, or know how to delegate things, then learn how to do it.

Learn how to determine which of your tasks are the most significant, and find out what items you can delegate to others. This will help you get ahead in the work force. Spend the right amount of time and energy focusing on your priorities without distraction. This is absolutely essential for your success.

Find Supportive Friends and Peers

The most successful people are those that surround themselves with other successful people. Do you want to get ahead in your field? Then surround yourself with other passionate, career-minded people. Having trouble finding a job?

Then hang around a lot of employed people that are passionately consumed with their field. They can help you reach the level of employment you want to be in, and help you network with others. Find career hotspots, including coffee shops, training seminars, and other events and attend them so you can hob-nob with the best of the best. Let others help you move along in your career.

Get Feedback From Your Superior

The best way to learn how to get ahead is to find out what you can improve on. Talk to your supervisor or a manager and find out what you can do better, or what areas you may need to work on. Let your manager know you are interested and passionate about moving up in the workforce. This is an excellent way to get noticed, and to learn about areas you may need to grow in. Don’t be shy about letting your employer know about recent achievements you have made or areas you have contributed to in the company either.

Set Goals And Reach Them

Career-minded individuals set goals. Create a list of things you want to accomplish each week, month and for the year related to your work and your career. Act on these goals. These may be training goals, personal goals and long-term career goals. Make sure that you are challenging yourself to achieve your best. Some of your career goals may be tied to the organization you are working with, and some of them may be tied to personal career growth.

Gain More Education

If possible, go back to school or attend extra-curricular activities that allow you an opportunity to expand your education in your chosen career field. The best way to get ahead in your career and advance is to further your education and knowledge in your area of expertise. This can be through formal learning, or through hands on learning. If your employer provides you with an opportunity for advanced education, take your employer up on this opportunity.

Always Give Your Best

No matter what job you do, even if it is a small job, be sure you are always giving 110 percent. You never know who is watching you, or in whose hands your work will ultimately end up. You may find one day your tiny projects ends up in the hands of someone with the potential to promote you, or notice you, or end up as the CEO of another company interested in hiring you for another great position. So always give your best, and present yourself in a way that brands you as the best possible person for any position. Make a good impression, and respect yourself as much as you respect the people that you work with.

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