8 Common Career Mistakes

Michael Jordan , who has not heard this name. He is a legend in Basketball and we know his phenomenal success. What most of the people don’t know about him is that, When Michael Jordan started playing basketball in school he was rejected. He was not selected for the school team, he was considered unfit to play basketball as he was only 5’11” tall. His coach thought that he would not be able to play against players taller than him. 

 It’s hard to believe that one of the best players in history was dropped from the team. Jordan could have easily fallen into the trap and could have made mistakes that would have finished his career. Instead he chose to convert this shortcoming into a strength. He analyzed that taller players are slow in speed, he used his shorter height as an advantage and worked on his speed. He redefined the game with his skills, speed, talent and attitude, he was considered incapable earlier in his career. He overcame all shortcomings and converted them into success.

Career is not a linear journey, it’s marked by many ups and downs. All of us make mistakes during our career. Some of them are reversible but some of them can be fatal. 

Over my three decades of working in corporate sector, I have noticed that majority of people make some mistakes (including me), some of the common mistakes and how to correct them are listed below:

• Fear Of Failure : Career is all about expanding, growing and Challenging your comfort zones. At times all of us have to take a leap of faith and take calculated risks. Remember the Mc Grath bouncer that hit Laxman on the head and the very next ball was dispatched to the boundary by Laxman. Most of the time people don’t grow when they fall into a comfort zone and take the “Path of Least Resistance”. If your role is not changing or enriching every three years , it’s time to question your position.

•  Career Goals : Imagine a football match without Goal Posts!! Career Goals are also like this, presence will help in direction but absence of such goals will make us run in circles without much progress. I have seen people changing companies and hopping jobs for petty reasons. Avoid doing this, instead focus on up skilling and job enrichment by adding value. 
• Ownership : It’s not my job !! How often have you heard these lines in the corporate world? People operate in silos and within the box, this can be very damaging for their careers in the long term. Experiment, take ownership and push the envelope. How do you expect to grow if you are not learning new things? 

• Investment : No one becomes an overnight success , In 2008, at age 21, Usain Bolt became the fastest 100m runner in the history of the World, some seven years after his first serious race. It seems unlikely that his total training volume was 1,400 hours per year, or 4 hours per day, every day, in the run up to this achievement. I have seen people wanting to reach the top without doing any hard work. Investing time and effort is something that is missing and they just struggle in their careers.
• Not Being Vocal about your achievements: If you are fortunate someone will project your work for you but this is very rare. Most of the time I have seen people not being vocal enough and they fail to highlight their work. I know this sounds somewhat selfish or self promotion but this is hard reality. You blow your own bugle; no one will blow this for you.
• Fitness : Roger Federer , who has not heard this name? One of the oldest players in world tennis. Has won many Grand Slam titles and still ranked very high in world rankings. The biggest differentiator has been his passion and fitness levels. With 70% of India’s population below 30 years of age , the corporate space will become very competitive in future (it already is), one of the biggest and most crucial factors will be your fitness levels. I have seen people blowing their fuse, poor listening skills and attention spans going down, all these lead to poor career growth and bad team management. Work on your mental and physical fitness , have fitness goals too.
• Networking: Recently I was going through a report stating that 70% of senior level positions are filled through references and networking. Yet we underestimate this potent skill. I have seen people burning bridges and missing out on opportunities of creating a bond. Advice to younger self will be to invest in building relationships, it can create a big differentiator.
• Procrastinating and Time Management : “You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again”— Benjamin Franklin. Time is probably the most undervalued asset. My feeling is one year of well utilized time can place you 5 years ahead in your career.