Career Success Habits for 2011

This is my next to last career advice post for 2010.  As usual I am taking off the last two weeks of the year to spend time with family and recharge my batteries.  I’ll be back with a whole series of new career advice posts for 2011 beginning Monday January 3.

Dan Robey is a friend of mine.  I really like his book The Power of Positive Habits.  There is some great life and career success advice in it. 

Dan is a fitness fanatic.  The other day I got an email from him sharing an article by a guy named Jason Ferruggia.  It was called “Change Your Mindset and You Will Build Muscle Fast during the Holidays.”

One thing that Jason said really stuck with me…

“Wanting and doing are two entirely different things. Everyone wants to dramatically transform their physiques and make mind blowing gains, but how many people actually do? Very few. And do you know why? Because they don’t have the right mindset. Change your mindset and you will change your body. With the right mindset you can make gains in as little as 12 weeks that other guys don’t even make in
12 years!”

Jason is talking about getting buff.  But his thoughts apply to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  Your mindset begins with your habits.  Tweet 90 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Habits are like muscles.  The more you use them, the stronger they will get.” 

I have a few positive habits – and truth be told, some not so positive habits.  Carrying a book with me is one of my most positive habits.  Sometimes it’s a novel.  Most times it’s a business or inspirational book.  I am in the habit of using spare moments to read and learn.  I was able to read the first four chapters of Crush It! while I was waiting for an emissions test on my Jeep that is required by the State of Colorado every other year. 

I just got a Kindle.  My Kindle makes it easier for me to carry books with me.  It holds a whole lot of them.  So I have no excuse for not always having a book with me.  My Kindle reinforces my career success habit of always carrying a book.

I read while waiting for appointment with clients.  I read while waiting for my dental veneers specialist, or doctor – and you know how long those waits can be.  I read when I go to get my car washed.  I read before a movie if I’m by myself. 

This is a small habit, but one that allows me to read at least two more books a month than I normally would.  That’s 24 books a year – and a lot of good ideas to help me grow my business and continue building my career success.

As we near the end of 2010 it’s time to review your habits – both positive and not so positive.  Will your habits lead to high performance and extraordinary career success in 2011?  Or will they keep you in the same place? 

If your habits aren’t going to lead you to extraordinary career success, you need to change your mind set.  Here is what I suggest.  Make a list of three to five habits that will enhance your ability to create your career success in 2011. 

Commit to getting these habits ingrained in your psyche.  Figure out what you need to do to build them.  In most cases, if you can stick with it for a month, you’ll have created a new positive habit.

Here are the habits I am going to commit to for 2011.  Some of them involve a mindset change.

In 2011 I will develop the habit of exercising every day – not just when it’s nice outside and I can ride my bike, not just when I am at home and can use my exercise equipment.  I am going to take my gym stuff with me when I travel and exercise every day.

In 2011 I will spend as much time marketing my products and services as I do creating them.  It does me no good to create great career advice if no one knows about it.

In 2011 I will spend at least two hours a day enhancing my social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.  I will create and post at least two new videos on life and career success every week.

Those are the career success habits I am going to develop in 2011.  By this time next year, I expect that they will be ingrained in my life and work and helping enhance my career success

What habits will you develop in 2011?  How will they affect your mindset and your career success?  My challenge to you – and me for that matter — is to identify what parts of your mindset need changing and what habits you need to develop to create your life and career success in 2011 – and then to follow through.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Our habits define us and our mindset.  If you want to create the career success you want and deserve, you have to develop positive habits.  Your mindset will go a long way in helping your build positive career success habits.  Good luck to you as you move forward toward your life and career success in 2011.

That’s my take on the career advice about the relationship between your mindset, positive habits and life and career success.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading.

Bud

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Comments

  1. Developing new success habits is obviously easier said than done. One reason there’s often such a large gap between what we intelligently decide we should do and what we actually do is that our good intentions don’t automatically stay on the front burner. They get lost in the shuffle and, when they do, the potential they offer for positive change, is totally wasted.

    A clinical psychologist, I’ve spent years developing an easy and effective way for people to change their own habits. I invented a simple electronic device called a MotivAider that automatically keeps its user’s attention focused on making virtually any chosen change in behavior or thinking.

  2. Steve:
    Your device sounds fascinating. Are you interested in writing a guest post about it?
    All the best,
    Bud

  3. Hi Bud,

    Yes, I’d love to. Please send instructions.

    Best regards,

    Steve

  4. Steve:
    Just send me about 500 words on your device, how it works, benefits of using it etc as a Word doc. Send to Bud@BudBilanich.com. I’ll post it on my blog.
    Looking forward to getting it.
    BB

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