9 Career Tips

My word for 2018 is commitment and recently, I decided to commit to self-improvement through constant knowledge consumption. I have realised that knowledge really is power. Knowing things makes you better in every single way: more interesting, more determined, more self-aware.

First, I set myself a goal to read 50 books this year (approx. 1 book a week), and it is honestly the best thing I’ve done for myself (since my daily skin care routine).

I then altered my binge Netflix habit, switching from TV shows to documentaries or TED Talks in my spare time. That doesn’t mean I don’t watch my fav shows any more (Dynasty is getting SO GOOD), it means I prefer being educated over being entertained 9 out of 10 times.

We’re so blessed to live in a world where information is so easily accessible, through books, YouTube, Instagram, blogs (!) and so on. But there are things we may learn only through human interaction, or mentorship.

I’ve had a few mentors (and guardian angels) throughout my career and I am forever grateful to them all, though at the time I was probably unaware just how much they would impact my life. Thank you Will, Ben, Aisling, Claire, Prianka and everyone else who believed in me and helped me see my potential.

I want to share some advice I picked up along the way from these amazing people & the other sources I mention above:

1. Your career is not a race. Become really good at what you do before making your next move.

2. You don’t need to know exactly what you want to do – try different roles/activities to find what you enjoy/can’t stand doing.

3. Find a mentor or multiple mentors. You can get tips, guidance and also learn from their experiences and mistakes.

4. Be goal-oriented – always make sure you have 5-10 small, practical steps under each big goal.

5. Try to focus on using/developing your strengths more than improving weaknesses.

6. Don’t underestimate the value of a good network.

7. Always be learning and improving – it’s easy to get complacent and fall back on to an inflated ego.

8. Celebrate every single success, no matter how big or small.

9. If you don’t ask you don’t get & if you don’t try you won’t know.

If any of these resonate with you, drop me a line or comment and I will write a more detailed post around the topic.

Here are a couple of interesting TED talks on this subject:

The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get

Want to Get Great At Something? Get A Coach