FIVE PRACTICES TO GET A PROMOTTION
By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
“Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go;
From 7-3 it’s helping me;
Hi ho, hi ho.”
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always got.”
I have a rule that I follow. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We ought not to make changes just for the sake of change. If everything about your career path is fine and you are satisfied where you are and where you are going (or not going!), then leave it alone.
But, if your goal is to enjoy more rapid promotions and raises in your career, I have learned five practices to help increase your chances of realizing that reasonable goal.
1. Relate your position to your life’s long-term goals. We all have Seven Vital Areas in our lives: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. Where do you want to wind up on the last day of your life in each of those Seven Vital Areas? The answer to that question begins to help us focus on what our lifetime goals are. Then look at your current position as just that, a “position”, a platform to help you to get to where you want to go. How can your current position be utilized to get you to where you want to go in life? How can it enhance your Health life? Your Social life? Your Intellectual life? When you understand how your work becomes a vehicle to get you to where you want to go you move out of a “job”, where you just trade your time for money, and into a “position”.
2. Plan your day the night before. Don’t live life by accident, by chance. Live life on purpose. Plan out in writing each night what you “have to” do and what you “want to” do the next day and prioritize that list in the order of importance of each to you in light of your commitments and responsibilities but also in light of the goals you wish to achieve. Yes, much of your day will be controlled by doing what you “have to” do, but in the “down” time, when you have choices on how to spend your time, you will have a plan of action to direct you to using that time more effectively.
3. Exceed expectations. Promise a lot, but deliver a whole lot more. If we want more money in the world, more responsibility, then we have to do more now than what we are already being paid for. “Any job worth doing is worth doing well.” Not only is this a benefit for enhancing our career potential, but a way of enhancing our own self-esteem and personal pride.
4. Invest time regularly for learning. Don’t rely solely on what you know now. That is what is getting you by, for now. Ask yourself, “what do I need to learn today that will help solidify my success five years from today?” Is it computer skills, management techniques, or a foreign language? I do not have any better crystal ball than anyone else but I do spend some of my time, (about two days per month), re-investing in my future, learning skills and concepts that will help me to prepare for this changing world. Our employers sometimes make training available to us. Take advantage of it. But beyond that, we have to supplement and manage our own education program.
5. Ask the “Boss Question”. Companies are always polling their customers, “how do you know when we are doing a good job for you?” Your biggest customer in the work-world is your boss. Your boss often has control over the money you may receive and the promotions you may get (or not get). Be in sync with the boss. A lot of promotions are lost because we were on a path that we thought the boss wanted, only to find out, at the annual review, that we were going in the wrong direction. Periodically ask the boss “how do you know when I am doing a good job for you?”
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore, a full-time Professional Speaker, is one of the foremost experts and speakers on Time Management and Personal Productivity and the author of “Beat the Clock” and “Organizing Your Life” and over 100 published articles. He has made over 2,000 presentations to audiences around the world helping people to get more out of each day and create more balance in their lives. His presentations are fun, entertaining and typically rated as “the best I have ever attended”. If you would like to consider Don as a speaker at your next event or have him conduct his exciting Time Management Learning Seminars on-site, at your location, contact him directly at: ctsem@msn.com or via telephone at: (203) 386-8062.
Would you like to receive your Timely Time Management Tips on a regular basis to increase your personal productivity and get more out of every day? Sign up now for our no cost “TIME MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION LIST”. Just go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement and select “subscribe” or send email to: timemanagement-subscribe@topica.com
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Professional Speaker
Productivity Institute
Time Management Seminars
127 Jefferson St.
Stratford, CT 06615
(203) 386-8062 (800) 969-3773
Email: ctsem@msn.com
Visit Our Time Management Supersite: http://www.balancetime.com
Professional Member-National Speakers Association since 1989
Copyright 1999 & 2004 You may re-print the above information in its entirety in your publication or newsletter. For permission, please email your request for “reprint” to: ctsem@msn.com
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3 comments:
one of the best post i saw here. Keep it going! Thank you.
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And what are the practices to improve your personal life? I'm terribly tired of problems in relationships with people. And I envy a little people who easily solve problems in romantic relationships or have no problems at all.
The theme of love in general is quite traumatic for me. Otherwise, I can say that a lot has changed thanks to psychic reading free. I didn’t have high hopes for these readings, but they helped me look at my actions, at life in general, from a different point of view and find some way out thanks to a psychic. Often this is what is lacking in relationships with people.
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