3 Career Mistakes You Can't Afford To Make

He had no money, was unemployed, and had zero job prospects.

Three years after graduating college, Mark Cuban packed his bags and drove to Dallas to find a new life. But all that awaited him was a tiny apartment with a rotten couch to sleep on and five rowdy guys as roommates. His towels had holes in them, he didn’t have a closest, and he spent many nights sleeping on the floor.

Fast-forward twenty years: Mark is a billionaire.

How’d he do it?

In his book How to Win at the Sport of Business, he chronicles his journey from rotten couch to billionaire club. But if you’re short on time, here are three key mistakes to avoid from the man himself:

Mistake #1: You Forget to “RTFM”

Mark had a problem. One of the first jobs he got In Dallas was at a software retail store—but he’d never worked with a PC in his life. And now he had to sell software for it?

In a matter of months though, to even his own surprise, he rose to be a star at the store. How did he go from knowing nothing to earning extra consulting fees for his newfound expertise?

He did the something that no one else was willing to do: he READ THE FRICKIN’ MANUAL (RTFM).

“Every night I would take home a different software manual, and I would read it,” Mark writes. “Every night I would read some after getting home, no matter how late. It was easy on the weekends. After drinking that cheap champagne, I wasn’t getting out of bed till about 9 p.m., so I had tons of time to lie on the floor and read. It worked. Turns out not a lot of people ever bothered to RTFM (read the frickin’ manual), so people started really thinking I knew my stuff. As more people came in [to the store], I could offer honest comparisons because I knew all the different software packages we offered, and customers respected that.”

Ask yourself: Are there any little things you can do in your work-life that can give you a leg up? You’d be surprised how a little extra effort can make a big difference—and sometimes it’s as simple as just reading the frickin’ manual.

Mistake #2: You Refuse to Sell Powdered Milk

As a recent college grad, Mark didn’t know what he wanted to do next in his career. All he knew is that he wanted to keep learning. So did he go get an MBA? No way.

Instead of paying to learn, he decided he was going to get paid to learn. And he did it by, amongst other things, selling powdered milk.

“I worked jobs I didn’t like. I worked jobs I loved but that had no chance of becoming a career. I worked jobs that barely paid the rent… Most of them aren’t on my résumé anymore because I was there so short a time or they were so stupid I was embarrassed. You don’t want to write about selling powdered milk or selling franchises for TV repair shops. In every job, I would justify it in my mind, whether I loved it or hated it, that I was getting paid to learn and every experience would be of value.”

Ask yourself: has there ever been a career opportunity—whether it was a new job opportunity or simply a new project at work—that you’ve turned down because it was “beneath you”? What if that was your chance to get paid to learn? Be conscious to never make the mistake of skipping out on learning opportunities, especially if you’re getting compensated for your time doing it.

Mistake #3: You Forget To Buy What Matters

During the early years of his career, Mark drove to the rich part of town every weekend to look at the big houses. What did these people do for a living? How did they make their money? His hunger and ambition buzzed. And even though he was broke, he decided to do one thing that few young people today are willing to do: invest in his long-term growth. And he did it by buying books.

“I read books about successful people. In fact, I read every book or magazine I could get my hands on. I would tell myself that one good idea would pay for the book and could make the difference between me making it or not.”

Even at a time when he couldn’t afford buying a proper meal—he still spent money on buying books. He saw the long-term benefit and chose to make the investment. And hey, last time I checked, Mark has turned that small investment in books into quite a nice net-worth.

Be honest with yourself: have you ever chosen not to buy a book or magazine because the high price made it "not worth it?" It's easy to think that that money could be better spent on a meal or new clothes. But what if there was a single sentence in that book that would have changed your life or trigged a million-dollar business idea? Would that book be worth it? (And if you haven’t read it yet, Mark’s book How to Win at the Sport of Business might be a good start. It’s a homerun—I‘ve read it twice.)

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Remember, the point of all this isn’t about how to become the next Mark Cuban, but rather, it’s about how to become the best you. If you RTFM, Sell Powdered Milk and Buy What Matters—you can excel beyond your wildest imagination.

And, as Mark says: ”It’s not whether the glass is half empty or half full, it’s who is pouring the water. The key in business and success at any endeavor is doing your best to control your destiny.”

Your time is now. What are you going to do to control your destiny? Share your own tips in the comments below.

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Alex Banayan is the author of a highly anticipated business book being released by Crown Publishers (Random House, Inc.) The book chronicles his five-year quest to track down Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and a dozen more of the world's most successful people to uncover the secrets to how they launched their careers.

To get exclusive content from the book and the latest from Alex's adventures, click here to join his Inner Circle email community.

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