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CAREER FITNESS: Six Ways to Raise the Bar

How "fit" are you now, professionally speaking? Are you stepping up to the
demands of this fast-changing business environment? Do you have the skills,
the reputation, and the contacts to weather any potential storms that might arise?

With the number of layoffs and business failures recently, it's no secret that the
rules for career success have changed. The workplace today rewards effort,
planning and training, but punishes complacency and lack of preparation.

In order to have a career that thrives, you must continually raise the bar in two areas:

** What you're offering -- to your your company, your boss, your clients and your
colleagues; AND

** What you're getting -- challenge, satisfaction, fulfillment and financial security.

Evaluate how 'fit' your career is. If you're ready to raise the bar, here's seven ways
to make it happen:

==> 1. Know Your Strengths

To excel in your work, and to find lasting satisfaction in doing so, you need to
understand your strengths. What's brilliant about you. What makes you shine.

Most of us spend way too much time trying to shore up our weaknesses instead of
maximizing our strengths. When you shift your focus to what you do best by
choosing projects and tasks that take full advantage of your strengths, you'll be more
productive, more fulfilled, and more successful.

How do you identify your strengths? Look for activities that you learn rapidly and
easily, and find yourself absorbed in enough to lose track of time. Your strengths are
energizing, while your weaknesses tend to be draining.

Some examples: you may be gifted at strategic thinking and planning, but find
implementation a struggle. Or, you may thrive on pursuing new clients, but find
maintaining long-term partnerships a challenge.

==> 2. Be a Futurist

Knowing your strengths is vital to your career success, but so is keeping on top
of what's going on in your industry. Those who are known for constantly updating their
knowledge and training are in a stronger position when negotiating a raise, or when the
competition for clients heats up.

Read professional publications, and attend conferences and workshops. Know what
the trends and issues are in the broader market, and what new skills will keep you
one step ahead.

You may want to develop a personal education curriculum to cover key areas that
will impact your short-term and long-term career success, such as leadership and
influencing abilities, interpersonal skills, and creativity and problem-solving skills.

==> 3. Focus: The Eighty Percent Rule

Focus on what counts. So often we spend our time juggling multiple tasks that aren't
important-leaving ourselves with very little time leftover for what we're really good at
or what we really enjoy.

What are the things that if you did them everyday, would help you create stronger
results? These are your high-payoff activities. The things that add tremendous value
and create enormous impact in your work. Identify your top 3 high-payoff
activities, and learn to focus 80 percent of your time on these three activities.

To rid your life of needless tasks, make a list of how you spend your time. All your time.
Include returning calls, chatting with coworkers. Most people are shocked to find they're
only spending about 30 percent of their time on high-payoff activities. Knowing where
their time is going helps them to prioritize in an entirely new way.

==> 4. Cast a Wide Net

Cultivating strong professional relationships and personal contacts both inside and
outside your workplace is another key to a successful, satisfying career. A wide network
of key people who know you well will provide the advice, support, advocacy, and
visibility you need to attract more clients, make more sales, or land a new job. Over 75%
of jobs are filled through personal contacts in the "hidden job market."

To develop these relationships, lead a project or serve on a committee that connects you
to other departments in your company. Join a local chapter of your professional organization,
and get involved with community and nonprofit boards that attract the kind of people you'd
|like to know.

==> 5. Get Feedback

The best way to succeed in your work is to create lots of value -- that is, to do a great job.
And the best way to do a great job is to solicit regular feedback from people who are in a
position to help you improve. Whether it's your boss, your coworkers, or your clients, ask
for honest, straightforward opinions about the value you bring to your work. Listen closely
and be open to what you hear. And, do this regularly...not just at your annual performance
review.

==> 6. Create a Financial Reserve

Don't "need" your job. The key is having a reserve -- saving for tough times so you don't
have to worry about finances. Not having a reserve of money forces you to focus on surviving
instead of thriving. How do you build up a reserve?

Reduce expenses. Change your investment strategy. Take 10 percent from each paycheck
and put it in a reserve account. Create a new revenue stream where the monies are only used
for your reserve account.

Raising the bar in your professional life means knowing what you're best at and being focused
on results that count. The reward? A healthy, satisfying, and more profitable career that serves
your whole life in the ways you want it to.

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Reading List
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"Now Discover Your Strengths," by Marcus Buckingham

This book's a terrific guide for identifying and building your strengths, and translating what
you do best into personal and career success.

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