Yes, it’s important to develop at work in order to find opportunities for yourself. But it’s also important to focus on development goals for work. In this post, that interpretation is basically how to get out of your own way and prepare for battle.
No one talks about personality and let’s be honest this can ultimately lead you to success or to your downfall at work. It’s not a matter of changing your personality. It’s about being mindful of how you present yourself and receive others while working.
In my first position in corporate America, I learned how I needed to mold myself in a way that allows me to be myself but also follows this new workplace culture. Newsflash I’m a first-generation American and the only person in my family that has an office job, so it was definitely a culture shock.
After reading this post I’ll let you in on the secrets of how to be yourself and be accepted in an office environment.
This post is all about development goals for work.
Development Goals for Work
1) Get a thick skin (the most important of the 9 development goals)
Now I’m not saying that it is ok for any environment to emotionally abuse you and that’s not what I’m referring to when I say get a thick skin.
Getting a thick skin basically means that you have to understand that in a new environment you know close to nothing. There are a lot of egos floating around and if you’re focused on defending your pride and how others perceive you then you’re not focused on your work.
All that matters is finding a solution to the problem. It doesn’t matter how much different individuals contributed to finding a solution, you are a gear in the machine.
You will also find yourself in moments where people are confronting you with an aggressive nature. Again that is not ok. However, in order to live in peace you have to see that they’re stressed and taking it out on you and that’s their problem.
2) Focus on what’s in front of you
Any job will have its peak moments where you’re trying to fly by the seat of your pants. Well my friend it’s time to fly daym it. Focus on what’s in front of you and do not pay any attention to anything else.
I’ve personally worked with individuals that are not able to do this. They rather stop and reprocess what we’re working on when a tight deadline is around the corner. You can’t focus on the foundation of a problem when you’re urgently trying to complete something. It makes you miss your deadline and it’s all about deadlines in the real world.
For example, let’s say you’re constructing a wall in a house, and the pipe bursts. You can’t keep focusing on the wall or go back to the blueprint to figure out where each pipe is laid out, you need to turn off the water and handle that one pipe burst. Priorities are easily set if you just figure out your deadlines.
3) Get good at being able to tell who will help you
You will come across many different personalities at work. You will find people that say “let me know if you need anything” and once you come around they disappear or feel insulted that you have asked for help. There are people that go on and on about how busy they are, letting you know they have time for nothing else. And then there are people who either offer help when you look like you’re drowning or will only offer help if you specifically ask for it.
It’s important to know who is who in your work environment. When you’re in the middle of a crisis the last thing you want is to waste your time trying to figure out who on your team you can count on.
Get to know everyone, their work ethic, and their level of generosity when it comes to sharing their time. This will save you from many little panic attacks.
4) Vent to a diary
Having a bad day is inevitable. It happens to everyone and that’s ok. Just get a diary and write it all down.
Do not share your negative thoughts with your colleagues unless you feel like you can trust them 1000% and even then you want to be cautious with what you share. The truth is that you’re being judged at every moment and you do not want your vulnerability to be used against you.
That’s why having a diary is so important. You need to vent but you also need to protect yourself.
5) Share your complaints with your manager in a structured and data-supported way
It’s important to have an open dialogue with your manager. Where you share what your expectations are and what your experiences have been like. It’s also important to share what’s bothering you so that your problems don’t eat you up inside.
However, if you have an issue with something in your work environment make sure you sure that information is in a way that is data supported. Maybe you feel like there’s too much on your plate, well track everything you do and share this information with your boss. Maybe they can help you prioritize what’s on your plate. You may be unhappy with your pay, well research how much your work is being valued by other companies.
When you structure your complaints in this format you have proof that what is negatively affecting you is reasonable and they can assist you with nailing down the solution.
6) Get friendly with everyone and personal with no one
Everyone wants to enjoy their lives. No one wants to be around a Debbie Downer or someone negative. Everyone wants to be able to enjoy themselves, and the more they enjoy being around you, the more they’ll want to work with you. And this leads to receiving more opportunities.
Make sure to keep the conversations with your coworkers light and enjoyable but also don’t get too personal. Too personal means sharing all of the things in your life you’re battling outside of work. The problem with being too personal is people will look at you differently. They’ll either avoid working with you in order to protect you or maybe they think you won’t be able to handle it. Also, they may be thinking does this person share everything with everyone and that could lead to concerns. They will even question if they could share anything with you, and that gets in the way of building trust.
So be personable with everyone and keep it light.
7) Strive to impress yourself
You are your own worst critic. Use this to your advantage. If you’re able to impress yourself, you’ll surely be able to impress others. If you’re not impressed by your own work then what makes you think anybody else will be?
Sometimes we get so caught up trying to win over someone else’s approval that we don’t even try to achieve our own.
Learn to trust yourself and follow your gut instincts, they have superpowers. Also, this gets you into the mindset of working for yourself and if you’re a future world leader like me then it’s imperative to start believing in yourself.
8) Set your routines
Routines are amazing because they push you to get things done when you don’t feel like it. We all have days when we want to do absolutely nothing. If you’re in the habit of taking those days off then you’ll continually stunt your growth.
More times than not we want to do absolutely nothing. We just want to rest and take it easy and that lifestyle gets in the way of you being able to complete anything. Don’t let this happen to you.
Make sure you set up a morning routine for yourself and set up routines for yourself throughout the day where possible and where helpful. For example, I love outlining these posts early in the morning, when I’m on the bus, and on my way to work. Now even when I’m super duper tired, it doesn’t matter I outline my blog posts because it gives me peace.
9) Continue to adjust your expectations and habits based on what happens
So we’re ever-evolving beings in an ever-evolving world. That means you can not be rigid with yourself. You’re going to have to consistently adapt and adjust based on what’s happening around you. So don’t get too comfortable. In fact when you do get comfortable purposely change something so that you’re able to rock the boat.
And believe me, it’ll never get easier. I’m constantly learning something new at work and it’s constantly painful but I keep reminding myself how much I’ve expanded. I’m in a completely new world from where I was one year ago and that’s a great thing.
It means the hardest things in the world are becoming easier for me, and as I learn and continue to gain experience that learning curve is getting smaller and smaller. Eventually, you’ll be at the top of the mountain you decided to climb.
This post was all about development goals for work.
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