The 5 pieces of career advice that really matter

I’ve just published a book called Worknado – Reimagining the way you work to live that contains literally hundreds of career observations from nearly 30 years of managing about 2000 different people across about 15 different workplaces.

When it comes to the crunch, I think these five are the ones that matter most:

Be confident and just do your best

Trust me, almost everyone has imposter syndrome. You don’t need to have any superpowers. If you are in a role, you can do it to your best ability. Someone has put you in the role and often they are a better judge than you on what you are capable of. Just do your best based on your instincts and experience. The more senior you get, the less specific vocational skills you need. There is no degree to qualify you for Prime Minister or President. Just do it.

Deal with it now

In my experience most work stress comes from worrying about something you need to do – a hard job, a difficult conversation, something that you find particularly perplexing or a task outside of your comfort zone.

Do yourself a favour and deal with it now. If you control it – fix it. If you need to delegate it (up or down depending on the task), do that. If you can’t do anything about it, stop worrying about it.

Treat everyone with respect

It costs nothing to treat everyone with respect and courtesy. Most successful people do this all the time. It does not mean you have to be weak or a people pleaser. ?Just conduct yourself with empathy and professionalism and people will support you (even when you are not in the room) and they will want to see you succeed. This will also give you the right to be tough when you need to be.

Make a change if you are unhappy

If you hate what you do, do something else. Pure and simple. It is a ridiculous waste of your life to get up every day and dread the day. Seriously, what is the point? Life is short. You owe it to yourself to find the thing that gets you out of bed with a spring in your step. And your will probably be really good at it. If you feel like you don't have a choice, at least ask yourself what it would take to have a choice. And work towards that.

Put your family first

Work matters but family matters more. Dying people never lament not spending enough time at the office. They lament neglecting family and friends, and not being there to see their kids grow up. You can work effectively and be very successful at your job without putting your family second. If your employer does not agree with that, you are probably working at the wrong place.

Worknado is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Goodreads in most markets around the world. It is also stocked through the Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane.