10 Actionable Tips to Help You Reach Your Career Goals

Here are ten simple ways I’ve found that could help you take the small steps that can have a massive impact on hitting the goals you might have in life.

Call it a small checklist.

You‘ll find some points here that, should you choose to implement them, you just might make a change in your life and the life of others.

The more of these you put in place, the more success you’re going to attract to you.

Speaking of Success, let’s get clear on what success is. It’s not the fancy car and the big house, and the bling bling.

It could be. But that may not be your version of success.

Jim Rohn said it best, and I’m paraphrasing here;

“If a man’s dream is to live in a log cabin away from the hustle and bustle and go fishing every day, and he’s able to achieve that, then I’d say he’s a smashing success.”

Short version?

Do YOU.

Figure out what YOU want in life and what your version of success is.

That is what’s important. 

Not the opinion of anyone else.

Anyhoo, back to the list.

1.Add Value

Ask yourself, am I adding value to people’s lives? Am I adding value to society?

Every day when you wake up think of how you’re going to make someone else’s life better. Is it through a service that you provide, or maybe through information that you share with your followers.

Figure out what talents you have that can make other people’s lives better.

For me, I’m trying to bring value to the world by sharing information just like you’re reading right now so that I can help you to feel empowered and confident and live the kind of life that you want.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. ”

— ALBERT EINSTEIN

2.Make positive connections

Think you can go it alone with everything that you do?

Think again.

Figure out the people who can help you reach and achieve your goals.

Go out and meet people in your industry or niche and then be that person who connects others. Building relationships will quickly become the way that you grow your career or business.

Building relationships are, and will always be worth more than just about anything else that you learn in your life. I’d recommend that you check out Keith Ferrazzi’s book Never Eat Alone.

You’d also do yourself a favor picking up Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Pick up both of these books, and it will change the way of how you look at your relationships, and you’ll immediately start seeing changes in your life that weren’t there before.

The next step is to find a mentor, someone who is, where you want to be. Someone who is willing to coach you and advise you as you take your steps along your journey in life.

The next group that you should find is your mastermind group. A group of individuals who have similar goals as you, and who are willing to push you to succeed, and to pick you up when you’re down.

Napoleon Hill preaches this in Think and Grow Rich, and Jim Rohn knew that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Are all of these successful leaders wrong?

Probably not.

They knew the power of relationships.

Start building your network now, go out and find awesome people with similar interests and get to know them. Make their lives better, and they will do the same for you.

3. Master Your Mind and Your Relationships

Master the thoughts that occupy your mind.

Get rid of the negative thoughts that pollute your mind.

Think that you can’t write a book, fly a plane, surf, run a marathon?

If you keep telling yourself these things, it’s precisely what you can expect to bite you in the ass. A big old piece of nothing and negativity.

If you can change the way you think, just a little bit, it will make a huge difference in your life.

Start being more positive.

Be more of the “glass half full” type of person.

Seriously, start pumping positive and motivating information into your mind every day.

Read books, listen to audios.

Secondly, master your relationships and the people that you interact with.

I touched on this briefly earlier when I said you should surround yourself with positive people. Do this, and you’re on the right track.

The hard part though is getting rid of the crabs in your life.

I’m talking about the people in your life who are there to share their daily dose of negativity and spew their vile mindset of scarcity, greed, and self-sabotage.

Why do we call them crabs?

Have you ever seen crabs in a bucket? If you have, you’d have noticed that none of them ever actually make it out, even though there is nothing that’s holding them back from climbing right out of the bucket.

Except for the other friendly crabs in the bucket.

You see everyone is climbing on top of each other, thinking only of themselves and because of this as one gets close to the top another grabs him by his little crab legs and drags him back down.

These are the type of people who you don’t want ruining your day and bringing negativity into your life.

Can’t totally get rid of them? (i.e., Family and lifelong friends)

Then cut back your time with them considerably.

“The strangest secret is that we become what we think about, most of the time.”

— EARL NIGHTINGALE

4. Manage your Time and Energy Relentlessly

Let’s make this one simple. Time is the only finite resource that you have.

No matter how much money you make, you don’t get an ounce more time.

It’s your most important asset.

The problem with time is that we waste it, and then on top of that, we allow other people to consume what’s left with random B.S.

Let’s put some simple rules in front of you:

• If you don’t manage your time, others will manage it for you.
• Learn the Art of Saying “NO” more often.
• Be careful of people trying to extract value. These are normally people who just want to take, take, take and they just don’t “get it.” They don’t get that they need to add value to the world.
• Become a person of abundance. Become a value adder/value creator.
• Don’t let people suck your energy and your time. When you’re chasing your dream and trying to make things happen, everyone else is going to want you to click a link or watch a video or buy this or buy that.

Ask yourself, Is this serving me or the things I want to do or learn?

I’ll make it simple for you. Probably not.

I’m telling you this because it’s a big thing that I’ve struggled with all the time.

It’s not easy managing life, work, children, love, hobbies. You name it. It's just life, and you need to manage that bad boy like a scuba diver managing her air.

It’s simple. Spend your time creating.

Making awesome shit that brings value to the world (see #1).

Do this, and you’re on the way.

5. Energy

By now you’ve gotten rid of your negative thoughts and the negative people, and now you’re able to better manage your energy without doing crap that you hate, and not listening to the energy draining vampires who’re trying to suck you dry as they spew their negative B.S. on you.

Here are some simple tips:

• Be positive and enthusiastic about life. People are attracted to this. You’ll feel more confident and have more energy.
• Some people are negative to the point where you feel physically drained and exhausted just being in their presence. You don’t want to be around these people, and you definitely don’t want them on your team. (See the second part of #3)
• Be passionate about what you do. What you’re doing should be your purpose in your life. Go after it.
• Portray hope to the market. Show people that you’re excited about life and what you’re doing.

Then follow everything you’ve read so far and rediscover your passion.

Take that first step.

6. Have a Mission and a Vision

Focus on whatever it is you’re going after. Figure out your goals and what it is you’re really aiming for with your life and your business.

Start dreaming again.

Decide what you want to do and accomplish in this world and make it your mission.

Maybe you want to eradicate cancer. Or bring clean water to those who need it.

All of that is great, but you don’t reach those goals unless it’s a part of what you’re moving towards every day and a part of this big dream that’s in the back of your mind.

You also need to not be afraid to say NO to anything that does not fit your vision.

Don’t waste your time being “nice” and spending your time and other people’s time, doing stuff that you know does not serve your purpose and your vision.

7. Care

This one is simple.

Just give a shit.

Just show up and give a damn and you’ll be way ahead of the competition.

Care about the work that you’re doing and the people that you’re doing it for.

Care about the people who work with you or for you.

Care for your family, your friends, even the people you meet on the street.

This is what the world needs more of. People like you and me who give just a little bit of a shit.

Just enough to make a difference in the world.

8. Never Stop Learning

If you want to be successful, you’ll have to commit to learning until the day you drop dead, and that finite time that we talked about earlier has come to its inevitable end.

Commit to your craft.

It’s not that hard to become an expert in your industry. It’s not hard to take your life and your business to another level.

Read five books on just about any topic, and you’ll be ahead of around 98% of everyone else in your industry.

Why?

Because people just aren’t willing to do the work.

They aren’t willing to miss an episode of “How I Met Your Mother” to read and learn something that will move their life or business forward.

They’re not willing to NOT surf Facebook and miss dancing cats when they’re on their morning commute and instead learn a new life skill.

Not you though, you should listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks.

Read as many books as you can.

Be a student. Be Humble.

Learn all you can and never stop.

Be sure that when you’re learning, you’re not only learning about your craft but also learning about yourself.

What your strengths are, your weaknesses and what the things are that bring out the best in you.

Have no clue?

Go read Strengths Finder 2.0, and it will help you figure out those pesky internal questions that you have.

9. Gratitude

This is probably one of the smallest changes that you can make in your day to day life that will bring some of the best results.

Being thankful and showing gratitude has a fantastic effect on all that you’ll do. You’ll feel like an entirely new person as you realize that life is better than most of us think it is.

Start a small gratitude log, and every day write down all the good things that happened that you were grateful for. There’s nothing like realizing that the brilliant sunset that you experienced earlier actually made your day.

Or the stranger who held the door for you flashed their brilliant smile and made you feel that not everyone in the world is an asshole.

These are the small things that make life better.

Be thankful for them.

I’m thankful if you’re reading this and even more so if it’s helpful to you.

I realize that everything here might not be new, and it sure as hell isn’t rocket science.

However, I’ve found that sometimes we just need the right things to reach us at the right time.

This might well be your time.

And to finish it all off…

10. Take Action

Start.

Don’t give a damn whether it’s perfect.

Just get started on your goals.

If you have an idea…

Get started.

Do something.

Just don’t sit around and procrastinate and miss out on all that you have to unleash on the world.

I wish you every success.