1/28/2006
Does Having a "Good" Attitude Pay Off?
This is yet another article that I read that I had to add my 2 cents to. In this piece written by Kate Lorenz for Careerbuilder.com, she explains how your attitude and not your brains can take you places. She outlines 10 attitudes that will help propel your career.
My 2 cents are to the point and delivered in their usual negative, but upbeat style. Of course, they are in direct response to the previous – and damaged - 2 years of my career.
1. I am in charge of my destiny.
I got news for you… you’re really not.
2. Anything is possible.
Yes. Anything IS possible. Do not think that you will be rewarded one day and not thrashed the next – regardless of the amazing work you’ve done or if you’ve invented the wheel. Your career can go rapidly down the tubes with no warning.
3. No task is too small to do well.
Actually, it IS if you’ve been thrown a few steps back in your career. You can find yourself doing work that you’d done years ago.
4. Everyone is a potential key contact.
Wrong. Everyone is a potential key threat.
5. I was made to do this job... and the one above me.
Please – I was made to do this job and YOURS, boss : )
6. It's not just what I know, but who I know.
This is certainly true. It’s always good to forge strong alliances along the way. That way when you need to bail (or you get tossed on your arse), you can call on them for help.
7. What else can I do?
It doesn’t matter what you do. If you’re liked, you’ll succeed. If you’re not, you can forget it. And oh yeah - you better make sure your parachute opens because when you do fall, you fall fast!
8. Failure will help pave the way to my success.
That sounds nice in theory. No, I take that back. My failures have paved the way to my new business. No more will I have to answer to a bat-$#%@-crazy manager.
9. I am my own biggest fan.
I should be… in tough times I'm my ONLY fan.
10. My opportunity monitor is never turned off.
You might not be able to do anything about those opportunities, but you can sure watch as others grab onto them and soar in their careers.
Wow, I sound bitter. Perhaps I am, but my experiences made me realize that all the good sense in the world will do nothing if those you report to have none. So, is this bad stuff? Maybe. But I do look forward to the day when I walk out of that place for the last time and embark on a career that I wouldn’t have thought of, had my Idiot Boss not put me on this path.
In the end, that’s good stuff.
My 2 cents are to the point and delivered in their usual negative, but upbeat style. Of course, they are in direct response to the previous – and damaged - 2 years of my career.
1. I am in charge of my destiny.
I got news for you… you’re really not.
2. Anything is possible.
Yes. Anything IS possible. Do not think that you will be rewarded one day and not thrashed the next – regardless of the amazing work you’ve done or if you’ve invented the wheel. Your career can go rapidly down the tubes with no warning.
3. No task is too small to do well.
Actually, it IS if you’ve been thrown a few steps back in your career. You can find yourself doing work that you’d done years ago.
4. Everyone is a potential key contact.
Wrong. Everyone is a potential key threat.
5. I was made to do this job... and the one above me.
Please – I was made to do this job and YOURS, boss : )
6. It's not just what I know, but who I know.
This is certainly true. It’s always good to forge strong alliances along the way. That way when you need to bail (or you get tossed on your arse), you can call on them for help.
7. What else can I do?
It doesn’t matter what you do. If you’re liked, you’ll succeed. If you’re not, you can forget it. And oh yeah - you better make sure your parachute opens because when you do fall, you fall fast!
8. Failure will help pave the way to my success.
That sounds nice in theory. No, I take that back. My failures have paved the way to my new business. No more will I have to answer to a bat-$#%@-crazy manager.
9. I am my own biggest fan.
I should be… in tough times I'm my ONLY fan.
10. My opportunity monitor is never turned off.
You might not be able to do anything about those opportunities, but you can sure watch as others grab onto them and soar in their careers.
Wow, I sound bitter. Perhaps I am, but my experiences made me realize that all the good sense in the world will do nothing if those you report to have none. So, is this bad stuff? Maybe. But I do look forward to the day when I walk out of that place for the last time and embark on a career that I wouldn’t have thought of, had my Idiot Boss not put me on this path.
In the end, that’s good stuff.
