It’s the message we’ve been hearing so much for years: that if we push ourselves and work hard, we’ll get anything we want.
But the big problem that we’ve all seen over the last few years is that no matter how hard we push ourselves, it just means we end up giving a lot of our soul to an entity that may or may not necessarily care about our best interests.
When you’re starting out in the world of work or climbing the career ladder, it’s vital that you don’t take yourself for granted and not just see yourself as a cog in the machine. Or feel that you need to go above and beyond all of the time for the sake of your career.
Here are some key strategies to ensure that you maintain your self-value:
Work-Life Balance
We should establish clear boundaries between our work and our personal time and never feel that we need to sacrifice our personal lives for the sake of career advancement. If you learn this lesson early on, it will pay dividends when there’s more important things in your life, whether it’s children or relationships.
So many people seek flexible working roles because they realise that, actually, work isn’t everything.
When we’re in our 20s, work can easily be everything, but slowly over time, there are other things that become far more important, and we need to remember this as soon as possible.
Prioritise looking after yourself, hobbies, and outside relationships to prevent burnout, which is far more common than you think!
Actively Seek Constructive Feedback
We should always remember that if we’re doing our best, we should look for validation to make sure that we are pushing in the right direction.
When we start at the very bottom of a career ladder, it could be easy to be the patsy for other people who think that the best way to progress their careers is to treat those beneath them with contempt.
Seek feedback, but make sure it’s from the right people, like your supervisors and mentors. You need to demonstrate your commitment to growth, but this means identifying areas for improvement.
If you are working in an organisation that does not give regular one-to-ones or supervisions, you may need to ask yourself if you are actually going to progress in the right ways.
Advocate for Yourself
We should be proactive in seeking opportunities for advancement and ensure that our contributions are actually recognised. There’s a reason HR laws are in place, and it’s to ensure that you can feel like you are a valuable part of your organisation without the worry that you’re speaking out of line.
While this career might not be forever in your mind, you can always maintain a strong sense of self-worth wherever you are.
If you are starting out in an organisation where you understand that you are just as important as the top brass, then this feeling will translate to other careers and stay with you for the rest of your life.
The career ladder is only one aspect of our existence, and it can be easy to take ourselves for granted, be complacent, or very simply not value ourselves. You are absolutely worth it!
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