8 Essentials- Seeds for growth in Career

YM Chong Fu Li

My boss, has retired recently. During lunch time, I visited him to pay my respect and courtesy. He recollected few instances from his life, few things that he practised. Following are summary of what I could learn from the discussion today. (I have added some example or sentences so that what I understood is made more clear).

1. Make your boss life easy. Go the extra mile 

Assume yourself in your bosses’ position and receive your output as he would receive. Check if that is what you would want to see as output. Ask questions as if your boss would ask. Try rejecting your output with reasons. Then you would discover what needs to be done and that is doing extra and going extra mile. If you are asked to make a doll, make a doll and perfect it. Going extra mile is not making a spare leg or hand for the doll. But taking more care in bringing the output more than what it is. You are more capable of what you think or what others think. People who prove to themselves don’t need appreciation from others because it is not worth more than yours. Only those who cannot prove to themselves will expect it from others. So, time and again prove that to yourself by doing more and make your boss life easy.

2. Never hesitate but dare to take unpopular decision 

For the sake of avoiding conflicts and bitterness, people generally tend to take a decision based on the popular choice of the options. But it is not necessary that the popular choice needs to be always correct. Dare to take unpopular decision which honestly you think that is good for the organization. Choosing a popular decision may postpone or reduce the severity of the problem for a shorter period but may not be helping in the longer run. If a popular decision fails, those who were favouring those popular choices were not going to stand behind you or take responsibility. Those who stick on to the popular choices remain, at best, as managers. Those who dare to take unpopular decision move ahead and make themselves as a leader.

3. Maintain your health and happiness 

You may forget until it becomes too late to realize to chase your dreams, both the physical body and mind should be intact. Proper health makes a better body and happiness makes a sound mind. Never sacrifice health and happiness for the sake of anything else. But discover what is real health and real happiness. For some, doing work itself is happiness.

4. Never sacrifice your principles fearing accusation 

People who bad mouth will bad mouth- do not try to satisfy them- you would never succeed. Never sacrifice your principles for anyone-- they are the one that defines who you are. By the way, principles are something that you honestly believe and adopted by practice over a period of time. Let people talk whatever they want, but they would someday realize the truth and intention behind. Anyway, it is irrelevant whether they realize or not so far you are true and honest and keep your head high and be proud of whatever you have done.

5. Do not be in your bosses’ black book 

You don’t need to be in good books of the boss, never matter but never be in the bad books of the boss. Once you are in bad book, it is just enough that the sight of you or hearing your name would trigger the bad memory in their mind. Every time your bad avatar pops up in their mind, the more stronger it is stamped. It is going to be very tough to erase it and overcome it.

6. Be polite 

Even if you want to give a bitter pill, you want to give a honest critical feedback do so but with politeness. No one deserves an impolite treatment. It doesn't mean that you should bend, you can be tough. But for being tough you don’t need to be harsh or impolite.

7. If you fall, get up first 

If you fall in a ditch, first thing you would be doing is to get out of the ditch and then analyze why you fell in it. You don’t want to first analyze why you fell and then to get out of the ditch. Learning from mistakes is good but it should not hinder your advancement. First move ahead and make room for yourself and then think of the mistake to learn from it.

8. Apply Common sense 

Common sense is something that is commonly uncommon. The first and foremost thing that you want to do is to apply common sense. Solution sans common sense is null and void.