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The measure of successful career

successful careerWe read about the successful careers of people in various parts of the world. They are everybody’s favorites like Steve jobs of Apple and Narayan Murthy of Infosys. People will study about their lives; watch the films on their illustrative careers in order to find out what was behind their success. The answer is simpler than you think. It was their conviction that they could do it.

Sisyphean toil (3d isolated characters on white background series)

A burden on my back: Let me talk about the normal behavior of an employed person. Shambhu wakes up when the alarm rings on Monday morning. His reaction is – Oh hell! I have got to go to the office today. He briefly remembers the gala time that he had partied with friends on Saturday night and then gets busy with his daily chores. The tension of the traffic is writ on his face as he drives to the office. Shambhu swears at every traffic snarl that delays him. As he punches his card at the office gate, it indicates- late by a minute.

Successful career-2Bad work environment: With the spoilt mood, Shambhu goes to his seat. While he is scanning through the emails, he finds that on two counts, the boss is angry as he has delayed the work. He swears again and gets down finishing the pending work. But he cannot concentrate without the morning tea. The colleague tells him the morning tea would be delayed by an hour as the milk supply failed to arrive in the canteen and they are making alternate arrangements. Shambhu gets into a discussion mode with his colleague on tea mismanagement and how it would now lead to a delay in his work.

Senior manager angry at his secretary

Life is hell: Shambhu gets a call from the boss, where he is pulled up for the delay in his work and loaded with more work for the day. Shambhu just cannot take the stress and needs a break. He moves to the smoking zone with another colleague and they discuss the bad state of affairs in the company for almost 45 minutes. Shambhu is still trying to get over the piles of work at the end of the day when others are leaving office. He tries to concentrate but in vain and decides to leave. To avoid the confrontation with the boss he decides to take leave on medical grounds on the next day.

Successful career-4A different approach: Now contrast this case with that of Naresh. The alarm bell rings, and Naresh jumps out of bed. He is excited about the new project that he wants to start in the office. He is in the office 20 minutes before time. He is finished with his emails before the office time starts. He gets down to work which is likely to come to him in the day. After an hour, he goes to the boss’s office and discusses the project that he wants to take up for the benefit of the company.

Successful career-5Welcome treatment: The boss treats Naresh with coffee from the vending machine in his office. He listens to the project plans from Naresh and guides him to include the company goal links into it. He also assures Naresh, that he will sanction the money required for the project. The time limit for the project is fixed for one month. Naresh returns from the office confidently as he knows he will be able to drive it through in 20 days.

Successful career-7Switch over: 99% of us are in the category of Shambhu, taking our jobs as a pain. Only 1% of us have the resolve to have a successful career. Switch the grade and see the difference for yourself.

22 Comments

  1. Thanks for this helpful article.I’m inspired from this. I think that increasing challenges can make the work even more interesting.

  2. Really a great job indeed! I got many information from this article. It is also very interesting.

  3. I think that increasing challenges can make the work even more interesting.

  4. This is an intriguing article. Enjoyed reading it

  5. I found this article useful and interesting.

  6. This article is very interesting. I have got many useful information from this article

  7. Thanks for this helpful and nice article.

  8. This post is very useful to make a better career.Nothing is impossible in life.We always take extra burden .most of the time our working environment is not suitable for us.We should take approach to solve it.And switch over the right way.

    • Agree

  9. Great!

  10. Yes, it’s really important a good work environment for a successful career.I appreciate this article very much .

  11. Great planning is very effective for a successful career.

  12. It is true that conviction can move mountains. My name is also Naresh and I am taking the resolve of becoming like Naresh in this article. We all easily fall into the trap like Shambhu while the company and management provides us with ample opportunities to be like Naresh.

  13. I have been wasting a lot of time on emails. I read somewhere else also that we should avoid scanning through the mails in the morning. After reading the blog I will take a resolve to break this habit and try to improve my career.

  14. If you have a bad start then everything goes haywire. We must ensure the maximum number of good starts to have a good career growth.

  15. It is true that we waste a lot of out time in routine non-value-added activities.

  16. Most of us like to go through our mails during office hours. It allows you to relax and at the same time show that you are busy. The company however, does not pay us for this activity. The point brought out in the article is correct. We ought to be doing this in the spare time. This gives us more time for our work, where we can carry out the activities to improve our career.

    • That’s an inventive answer to an innrtestieg question

  17. After reading this article I find myself somewhere between Shambhu and Naresh. I have to correct a few things and I think they are manageable. The article has provided some good insights. Thanks.

  18. I had spoiled my image in the place where I am working because of Shambhu like characteristics that I was displaying. It took quite a lot of time to mend myself. My boss found it hard to believe that I had become Naresh. He had two long sessions with me just to affirm that I had really changed. I had to wait for one year before he gave me the promotion. The equation is changed now and I am his blue eyed boy!

  19. In our company there is a smoking zone and the employees get together in that area after the morning tea. Sometimes the non-smokers also join them. This 15 minute ritual is there every morning and people get a lot of information about the company here. It is different than what Shambhu in the article participates in. I have reasons to believe that the company promotes the smoking zone meeting as it promotes bonding and team work in the employees.

  20. Yes we all read the success stories of a number of people who make it big in the corporate world. It makes us wonder that what is it that is different in them. Most of us believe that it is a stroke of luck. But it is not. This article throws some light on what could be different. It was worth reading through that example of comparison between Shambhu and Naresh.

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