Why are you being overlooked and ignored?
While Rachel is getting praise?
Chad's getting promoted,
and Avery is getting the dream client assignments.
It's because they know the five harsh truths
to succeed at work that will save you from failure.
If you are ready to learn these truth bombs
for yourself, tap that like button.
And let's jump straight into it!
The first harsh truth to be more successful at work is
to know what success means to you.
Honestly, most people operate using the default setting:
climb the corporate ladder,
make lots of money,
buy a big house,
flashy car,
or expensive handbag
to prove how successful you are.
But do you really want those things?
As someone who's climbed the corporate ladder,
I can tell you, it's hard if you don't want it.
And if you're chasing the house,
the car or the carats that don't really motivate you,
you'll lose steam.
And to back it up,
you don't have to climb the corporate ladder,
that doesn't have to be what success is for you.
Maybe you want to have a stable job that you love,
or you dream of creating a business of your own.
It's okay to want whatever you want.
And that does include a fancy job title.
What's important here is that you're honest with yourself
about what you really want from your career.
Once you identify what you actually want,
figure out why you're motivated to get it.
Answer this question for yourself:
Why does career success matter to me?
It could be money, security,
proving your mother wrong,
getting to solve more complex challenges
or social change. Again,
there's no right or wrong answers here.
Don't start judging yourself if you see money,
but when you know what you want,
and why you want it,
you have the framework,
you need to go and get it.
And that brings me to the second
harsh truth to be more successful at work.
And that is to make relationships a priority.
I've said this before and my career bestie I can promise you
I will say it again, success is not solitary.
Of the hundreds of extraordinarily successful professionals
that I have spoken with,
exactly zero of them thought they're alone.
In fact, the relationships that you build can have
more impact than the actual work that you do.
I know that point is frustrating for a lot of people
that hang out around here, but
it doesn't stop it from being true.
And that's where people find themselves working
60 or 80 hours a week doing things that
nobody knows about and having an invisible impact
that's not going to help them succeed.
On the flip side, we know Slacker Chad.
He doesn't do any of the work but
he either snatches credit for the work that you're doing
which is not cool and totally other video
or he puts in the effort when it's going to impress
his boss's boss's boss or get him on his boss's boss's boss's radar.
No matter what the reality is.
Those people don't think that Slacker Chad is a slacker.
He's managing the impressions that he makes and
he has built a professional reputation and a personal brand
as someone who deserves to get ahead.
I know it can feel frivolous,
spending time cultivating relationships when
you've got to do but remember, in your work,
when you have an obstacle,
you need help or you need resources,
the relationships you create can be the things that
get you what you need. And one more thing we
need to talk about on this point, because I see it
come up in the comment section pretty frequently.
It's so gross.
If it's an authentic, I totally agree with you.
But this should not be inauthentic.
It should be completely aligned with
who you are and your values.
As I've gotten to know a lot of you there's
one thing that I've really seen in common is the
Career Bestie community is full of people that are kind
empathetic, curious and eager to support others -
both in the comments and in real life.
Simply bringing that energy into cultivating connections
with people at work who make an influence decisions,
because being on the radar ultimately gets your
work on the radar, you'll probably find yourself
getting more opportunities,
and you're likely to find a faster career advancement
that if you just kept your head down working,
if nothing else, you might find that mentors and
maybe eventually friendships emerge.
And this brings us to our third harsh truth to
me more successful at work.
And this one is one of the key ones.
And if you were only to do one of them,
I would say it needs to be this one.
Conviction matters more than competence.
Be honest, I want to know who you would listen to:
Rachel: "I think this might be a good idea.
We can try it and see if it works..."
OR
"The only viable solution I see is..."
Let me know in the comments who you
would be more likely to listen to when it comes to
having your ideas heard concerns addressed
or promotion granted.
The reality is confidence is contagious.
It doesn't matter if you were the best most qualified person
on your team if you don't believe that you are
and if you don't share your thoughts with conviction.
Of course there is a downside.
In a recent video I talked about the Dunning Kruger Effect
and how folks that don't really know anything
have a ton of confidence.
This is one of the reasons why
the higher ups are really going to like Nick's idea,
even if everyone at his level knows it's the worst idea
that has ever been said.
He shared his opinion with confidence and conviction
Rachel's idea might have been much better.
In fact, her idea might have been the actual only viable solution.
Maybe she was in that imposter syndrome zone and
because she's doubting her own expertise,
she expressed her idea without conviction
and because she doubted herself others doubt her.
This is one of the reasons why I think knowing
and owning your UAQ is so important.
Having self awareness about what you know and
what you're great at is going to help you
approach these situations with the confidence and conviction
that you really need to be heard
and to be fully recognized for what you're bringing to the table.
Also, while we all get annoyed with the unqualified
high conviction people being heard,
I truly believe that the antidote is to have
intelligent and talented people like you bring
that confident energy to whatever you say,
so that you are heard your ideas are implemented
and you get the praise and opportunities you deserve.
Now drawing from that we need to get into
the fourth hard truth to be more successful at work
and that is you need to make an on ignorable impact.
How many hours a day do you spend at work
triple tasking in meetings?
And how many emails and slack messages
have you responded to in the middle of the night
without anyone seeming to notice,
let alone be appreciative of the work that you do?
And frien,d you are great at getting things done.
But the problem is...
they're not always the things that matter.
And you're burning yourself out in the process.
There is a lot of invisible impact that you can make it work.
I have a whole video on how working hard
won't actually get you ahead.
Now, don't get it twisted.
I'm not saying don't work hard.
But what I want you to do instead of working hard
and doing all of the things is
to channel your effort to make a strategic impact
that is an ignorable, align your focus with your UAQ,
since that's your highest potential growth path,
but also with the priorities of your boss and their boss,
moving the needle on the things that matter most to them
is not only going to get you on their radar,
itwe can help you achieve your career goals
no matter what they are.
And this brings us now to our fifth hard truth
that we really need to talk about might not like it,
but it's one you need to hear this
harsh truth to be successful at work...
is to play the game, but do it your way.
I hear it every day.
"I don't do politics."
But if you don't do office politics,
what you're really saying is you don't play
and if you don't play, you lose by default.
This is Game Theory, my friends.
Anytime we have two players, we have ourselves a game.
A lot of people play dirty.
Well, when we look around we see Patty gossiping
about personal lives of every one of the company
Nick lurking over your shoulder just waiting
to rat you out as soon as you make a mistake.
And Avery who would sell their mother's soul
in order to get that promotion. So yeah,
a lot of people are playing the game in a way
the vast majority of people despise
There's a saying: when you get in the mud with a pig,
you get dirty and the pig gets happy.
And we don't want to be rolling in the mud,
especially with the pigs.
And that's why you need to know how to play office politics
in a way that's aligned to who you are and your valued
doesn't need to be a gross thing that we hate.
And you do this you're not just playing the game
or starting to change it. For example,
you know, I see this endlessly lead with empathy.
So when you hear a Patty playing dirty politics
and trashing a coworker,
it's easy to be annoyed.
It's easy to be judgey
and it's easy to want to get back at Patty's
especially if it's about you.
And it's so so easy to go and talk behind her back,
perpetuating the cycle and the fresh drama. she craves.
Her llama's super hungry.
But if you can back up and see Patty for who she is,
the one who maybe doesn't like herself has a miserable life,
so much so that the only way for her to feel slightly
less miserable about her own life is
to pretend everyone is as miserable as her by
gossiping about them because
she is so powerless in her own life.
How can you not feel bad for her?
At the end of the day office politics comes down to
navigating humans. I wish it was easy,
but we're a complex species. That said,
there are a few simple rules that you can learn to
play office politics authentically and effectively
and you know when do you want to know how
go and watch this video right now.
But before you go if you enjoyed this video,
if it helped you ,tap that like button.
Really helps my channel,
makes you my favorite career bestie.
Win-win situation.
While you're down there consider subscribing
if you haven't already and as always my friends
thank you so much for watching.
I will see you in the next video.
Bye for now!