In the hustle and bustle of life, we naturally fall into a routine of doing the same things daily. We eat the same breakfast, get in the car and drive to work almost the same way every day. We even wear the same clothes (a lot of times). While we all have our days when we go out of our comfort zone and do something unexpected, most of us tend to fall back into our daily routines.
Some of you are asking, “How do I stand out? How do I get ahead in my career?” It’s not about your university degree, and it’s about connecting, learning, and being visible in ways that allow you to improve and grow your career.
It’s a mistake to think of career growth as something that happens due to taking on a new job, getting promoted, or receiving a massive raise. Career growth is at the very least partially under your control, and it starts with establishing yourself with consistency.
Connect.
As much as we all love to sit in our cubicles with our headphones on, it’s essential not to forget about the outside world. And that means connecting with more people than just the ones you work with! When you connect with coworkers in different departments, it’ll help you better understand how each of your parts fits into the company’s whole. If you want to become a manager someday, those connections might also be helpful when it comes time for you to build a team.
Connecting with the community (or even just other professionals in your field) through volunteering and professional organizations can also be great for your career. These activities will give you new skills and experience, and they’ll allow you to practice networking in a low-pressure setting and make some new friends while you’re at it. Most importantly, they’ll give you opportunities to get out there and meet people who know people who may one day be hiring or recommending someone for a job.
You don’t have to do everything at once—just try to find one or two things that appeal to you and start there. If there’s an organization that sounds interesting but doesn’t have a chapter close by, there’s no reason why you couldn’t start your own!
Learn.
As a young professional, you may be feeling the pressure to make your mark on the world. You want to stand out in your field, get ahead and land that promotion. But how? The answer is simple: by learning.
If you want to be successful, you have to continue to learn. This doesn’t mean just earning a degree or attending conferences. It means finding opportunities to expand your knowledge and skillset — even if it means taking some time out of your daily schedule.
The truth is that life is too short for us all to spend it doing the same thing every day. We need variety in our lives, and we need it both emotionally and intellectually. If you’re not learning something new every day, you’re wasting time that could be better spent doing something else — like advancing your career or pursuing a lifelong passion project.
Show up.
Being in the office every day is a good start, but it’s not enough. The best way to show up for your career is by being visible at work and home.
Be Visible
You have to do things that make you stand out from the crowd to be visible. If people don’t know who you are or what you do, how will they ever know if there’s a gap in their team that could use filling by someone with your skills?
Participate
The easiest way to get noticed is by participating in activities outside of just showing up at work every day. Participating in volunteer activities outside of work shows initiative and willingness on your part — two qualities that employers love to see in their employees!
Volunteer.
Volunteering is a great way to advance your career. You can meet new colleagues, hone your skills, and work on issues you care about while helping others. But with so many demands on your time, it can be hard to fit volunteering into your schedule.
You might think you need to devote huge chunks of time to make a difference, but that’s not the case. You can positively impact by volunteering just 60 minutes a day (yes, daily!). Here are several ways to use an hour of your time to volunteer.
An hour is enough time for you to mentor someone looking for career advice. You could also use this time to coach younger workers in the office or serve as a buddy for a new employee. Another idea: Join online forums where people discuss their careers and answer questions in your area of expertise.
If you want to help out in person, spend an hour of your time volunteering at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. If you can’t do this every day, sign up for once-a-month volunteer shifts giving out food and clothing items. Or, if you work near an elementary school, try volunteering one hour per day as a tutor or classroom aide after school let’s out.
Share.
Share what you know. If you’re an expert in something, share that knowledge with anyone who needs it. You can write articles or blog posts, speak at events, or simply tell people what you know whenever they ask for it, and this helps them build your reputation as an expert in your field.
Share your skills. If you have particular skills that other people don’t have (or don’t know about), share those skills with them to use them too. For example, if you’re a great writer, but your boss doesn’t know about it yet, offer to write some company newsletters or other documents to see how helpful you are. And suppose another team member asks for help with something, and you’re able to provide it quickly and easily because of your skillset (rather than spending time researching and learning). In that case, that’s also a win-win situation for you both because now they know what a great resource they have on their team!
Sharing is an essential step in career growth, and the more you share, the more you grow. Here’s why:
Sharing helps you learn. When you share your knowledge and skills with others, you understand what works and what doesn’t. You also learn from their feedback and experiences.
Sharing builds relationships. When we share with others, we deepen our relationships with them because we are giving of ourselves and showing that we care about them as individuals beyond just work-related interactions.
Sharing boosts confidence. When we share our expertise or experience with someone else, it makes us feel good about ourselves, increasing our confidence and making us more likely to share again!
It’s As Simple As 60 Minutes a Day
This process in action is as simple as it seems. Set aside 60 minutes every day or every other day to work on your creativity via a creative activity you enjoy. You can make this time a daily habit and stick with it, or you can treat it like a challenge or a special assignment where you do it once the once. The point is that the idea is that you should commit just 60 minutes a day to focusing on growing your creativity and becoming more creative. That’s all there is to it! Click here
