Personal Advancement
Positive thinking plays an enormous role in achieving successIt's no secretI recently wrote a column for Sun Media about one leadership expert's take on Rhonda Byrne's The Secret -- a book that teaches how positive thinking can bring you success. |
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 [ 2007-07-04 ] |
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I recently wrote a column for Sun Media about one leadership expert's take on Rhonda Byrne's The Secret -- a book that teaches how positive thinking can bring you success.
The leadership expert took a hard line on the book, saying essentially that it was a book about learning how to take, when strong leadership is really about learning to give.
The expert said that it is through giving and through hard work that one finds success -- professionally, financially and within whatever other parts of your life you want to find success.
Although I haven't completely read The Secret or watched the DVD, I have gone through the website and I have read a number of reviews about it.
While I also believe that success is found through hard work, I think positive thinking plays an enormous role in it as well. In fact, I believe success is found through hard work, positive thinking and through luck and good timing.
That goes for financial success, relationship success and, certainly, success in your career.
When you're first looking for a career start, it's so very important to research the positions you're applying for and the companies offering those opportunities. Not all are created equally.
Think of this scenario. You want to get into a particular company very badly because it has positions that are specific to your training and your interests, but you don't have the experience yet to land that specific job.
Should you apply for a lesser or different position just to get your foot in the door, or should you apply for a similar position at a different company in order to get more experience, hopefully to move to the preferred company once a position becomes open?
There is no right answer to this question. Either might work, but there's no guarantee.
That's where research could help you play the odds -- find out where the people in the preferred company's positions came from. Did they work their way up the ranks or did they come from other companies? Did they all come from the same other company?
Is the company about to be swallowed up by another corporation? This might scuttle your plans altogether depending on how the new parent company has operated in the past.
Can you find out if departments are about to be outsourced, or if there is no hope for a vacant position in that department for 20 years? You might just want to refocus on another company or another position.
Once you've exhausted all lines of research, you'll still only have half the picture.
Make your decision, work as hard and as smart as you can, think positively and perhaps the timing and luck that I earlier mentioned will come into play.
Regardless, you've at least done all that you can to be a success and you should be proud of yourself. If your dreams don't come true this time, there are many more fish in the sea and there's time for you to chart a new course for different waters.
P.J. Harston is Sun Media's National Business Editor. Reach him by e-mail at Pj.harston@sunmedia.ca, read more of his columns on Canoe's Money website or on his blog at blog.canoe.ca/funbiz
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