5 Life Lessons: #4

By Jeanne

Put forth maximum effort. Put everything into what you do and you’ll get noticed. This really links to lesson 3 – love what you do. When you love what you do, it’s easier to make the effort to push past good enough.

Things happen when you put maximum effort into your work. You feel a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment that is awesome. In the long run, this is the most important outcome, but up there in importance is getting noticed by others. Opportunities come to those who work hard, who look to improve and to learn. Good enough is rarely good enough.

Take notice of the lessons you learn so you can continue to improve. Never stop learning how to be better. Failure’s tough, but it’s worse when you don’t learn from it.

Bring others along, help them learn and grow. The feeling you get watching a protégé succeed is amazing.

Opportunities come in many forms, so don’t get too caught up in the race for a better title. Career growth isn’t always straight up. There’s nothing wrong with drive and ambition, but balance that with work that is meaningful to you.

If the opportunities that you deserve don’t come, what does that tell you? You have the power. You own your career. If what you’re doing isn’t working, change it.

The point here is that you strive to be the best you can be. So go for it. Try hard, then try harder.