Monthly Archives: June 2014

Having a sense of urgency

This is one of those attributes which act as an early indicator for promotion.

An old boss said to me once that he could figure out whether or not someone had drive just by the way they walked around the office. If they had a slow pace, sauntered, “hung out”, he knew they were unlikely to be someone who was going to push to get things done.

It sounds arbitrary, but here’s the thing: it’s one thing to be relaxed and  laid back  from a style perspective, but never let that become who people think you are at work. There are very few jobs where being relaxed and laid back is cited as a job requirement.

Now, if your style is relaxed and laid back, but you know when to dial it up when you need to, you have acute attention to detail, you make sure things are right, are constantly looking for continuous improvement, it’s not an issue.

Just make sure your style isn’t conveying to your manager that you don’t care.

10. Prioritizing gives time back to you.

You will always have too much to do. Here’s an easy way to figure out what’s important to you: what do you spend your time doing?

Now work will always take up a big part of your life as long as you have a 5 days a week, 8 hours (or more) a day schedule. But what you can do is figure out what you should be doing in the time allotted…in other words, manage your day instead of letting it manage you. What are the important things you must do versus what do you spend time doing? So, my lessons learned: Continue reading →