A follow up on hard work paying off

There are a lot of things that I do not know. I don't know how I can make a million dollars. I don't know how manipulators of large amounts of money benefit greatly from money changing hands. I do now know how to "manipulate the system."

I do know this. Hard work will keep you going. No matter what your job is, do it to the best of your ability and do it day after day after day. When you give your very best effort at all times, good things will happen. People will eventually notice, and you will benefit.

That is a very simple formula, hard work on a regular basis equals stability. If you can't work hard at what you are doing because it is over our under your head, or if you just don't like it, find something that you can love. There is no substitute for passion. Knowledge and experience can help but they do not take the place of passion.

My favorite expert on the subject, Brian Tracy, advises you to not only work hard every day but work on yourself. Train yourself to benefit from your passion. Whatever it is that you love to do and can do it for a living, train and get better at it.

In his book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins has a bit of solid advice for successful companies that can also apply to an individual.  In order to achieve greatness three things are required:  can you be the best at it, can it drive your financial engine, and are you deeply passionate about it.  He calls this his Hedgehog Theory.  I recommend reading the book.

If you have those things going on, you will automatically have hard work on your side, and you will be be successful.  Hard work does pay off.

Put It Into Practice

Put into practice what you learn. Don’t be afraid to put the ideas that you learn in your reading and studying into practice on the job. Make sure that you have the clearance of your manager or company before taking unilateral action but don’t shy away from trying an idea that can help your company. Even if you feel that your overall company might be somewhat backwards, perhaps your department or division or team might benefit from your new found ideas. Again, act in accordance with your manager. Even though you are not the CEO or president or even executive vice president, you can create a pocket of greatness in your own group.

Author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, tells us that greatness can exist within a company that may not be great. If your responsibility is for a division or smaller group, make it your goal that greatness will be the norm for your group. You can be a Level 1 Leader even if you only manage a small group or division. Strive to make it great using teamwork and leadership.

Wherever you work and whatever you do, be the best at it. Come in a little early every day and stay a little late. Be attentive to all that affects your job and how it might help you to advance in your career. Always strive to be the best you your field. Get advice from others whom you perceive to be the best in your field and copy what they do that brings them success. Don’t be satisfied to just have a job and draw a paycheck. Anyone can do that but this is not for you. If you are unhappy with your job or career, get started on fixing that. You should find a career that you can love.

Core Competencies

Both individuals and organizations have core competencies that lead to competitive advantages. It is often tempting to venture beyond those qualities when we have not built upon and strengthen the core.

In the book The Game Changer, author A.G. Lafley states that it is not sufficient to just identify a business's core strengths but rather they must be worked at and enhanced constantly. With this practice, those strengths become competitive advantages.

In his excellent book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins tells us that in building a business we must protect our core and stimulate progress. Growth is great but we must be very careful not to abandon our core strength and our core competency.

The same rule applies to individuals. Once we understand our own personal strength, we need to constantly nurture and work on it so that we have our own personal competitive strategy. For some that strength might be intellect, for others it might be the willingness to work hard. Still for others, it might be compassion and understanding.

In both cases, companies and individuals, it is critical to understand and constantly work at our core competency and then look for and stimulate progress. If you are seeking to understand your own strengths, I recommend the series of works by Marcus Buckingham titled "First Break All the Rules" and "Now Discover Your Strengths." In this series, the authors help the readers to get a grasp on their own strengths so that they can take advantave of them and use them for progress.

Core competencies exist for everyone. The challenge is to work on them.