Whether you are a fresh graduate who is about to start their career or an individual who is facing a mid-career crisis or someone who is stuck in a rut, you might have faced numerous hurdles and obstacles in your career path. The way you deal with those challenges will determine the fate of your career.
Looking for some advice or guidance on career development? You are at the right place. Instead of making all the mistakes yourself and learning the lessons the hard way, you can now learn from the CIOs who have been there and done that.
In this article, you will learn about seven pieces of advice from top CIOs that will propel your career to new heights.
7 Pieces of Career Development Advice from CIOs
Here are seven pieces of career development advice from IT leaders you should listen to.
- Small Steps Can Make A Huge Impact
You might have always heard that 80% of results are achieved from 20% of the effort. The famous 80/20 rule says that. Ask any experienced professional and they will tell you that small acts and steps can have a massive impact on your career. For instance, migrating from best VPS hosting to cheap dedicated hosting can make a huge difference to performance. It could be a quarterly performance or a speech you delivered or a presentation you gave that can propel you to career stardom.
It is the one moment that can change your fortune. Even if it does not, it can give you the confidence and belief that you can also achieve greater things in your career. It is those moments that will continue to drive you when you are down and out and in need of some inspiration and motivation. It can also serve as the memory that you will rejoice for a very long time.
- Find What Drives You
The first thing you need to accomplish to succeed in your career is to understand yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses and play according to your strengths. Try to overcome those weaknesses slowly. A person who can identify what motivates them and drives them is more likely to succeed in their careers than a person who does not. After you have won the battle within, now you are ready to help other people find their why and achieve the same success that you have.
- Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
If there is one advice that you should follow religiously, it would be to always stay in the learning mode. Look for opportunities for continuous growth and improvement. Don’t shy away from new experiences. In fact, you should embrace new challenges as these are the challenges, experiences and lessons you learn from them that will transform your career. If you have been using VPS singapore for years, try shifting to gaming servers.
Yes, this might mean that you will have to get out of your comfort zone but it will teach you lessons that will help you throughout your personal and professional lives. Polish your existing skills and also learn new skills. Surround yourself with the best people in your industry and it can also make you successful. Afterall, a man is known by the company he keeps. Jim Rohn summed it up brilliantly when he said, “You are the average of the five people you spend your most time with.”
- Leverage Possibility Thinking
When you embrace possibility thinking, you remove all the barriers and obstacles along the way. You are no longer restricted by your knowledge. It broadens your horizon and you start to look beyond your knowledge barrier. This gives you the power to think big. In reality, possibility thinking will completely change the way you think. It shifts you from a limitation mindset to a possibility mindset.
Words you hear and say can have a profound impact on your actions and behaviors. You should only say things that you fully believe in and want to turn it into reality. Your words can either guide others or can put them off the right track. It can have a deeper impact than you can think.
- Identify Opportunities During Challenging Times
You might have heard the common adage which goes something like this, “There is always a silver lining in every dark cloud.” Did you know that it is actually true? No matter how grave the circumstances are, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that we don’t focus on the positive aspects when we are in a crisis situation.
Instead of looking at hardships as challenges, hurdles and obstacles that are bogging you down, look at them as an opportunity to thrive. Once you change your point of view, it will be much easier to survive and even thrive during tough circumstances.
- Never Shy Away From Seeking Help
Stuck in a rut? Don’t know where to go? How to get out of the hole? Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You will always find people who are not only more experienced and skilled than you and are willing to lend a helping hand. Benefit from their knowledge, experience and skills and solve your problems quickly instead of trying to fix a problem you are struggling to solve. Don’t let your ego come in the way and be humble when asking for help.
- Shoot For The Moon
If you want to scale heights that no one has ever done, you will have to try things that no one has ever done. Always set ambitious goals as it can force you to push harder towards achieving those goals. The more you push yourself, the higher your chance of going beyond your limits. Setting targets which are harder to achieve puts you in a totally different frame of mind. You cannot be complacent and cannot relax until hitting your targets. This can bring the best out of both people and teams and give you a better idea of what they are actually capable of achieving.
Which is the best career advice you have ever received that has helped you advance your career? Share it with us in the comments section below.
