The secret ingredient career achievers use to dominate the workplace: An untold story

How many times growing up were you told read your school library book and college notes before going to bed?

I mean I totally hated reading as a kid, I literally found no value in it and with all these kid stories such as Winnie the Poo, no offence Harry Potter as well because at the time I just preferred watching the movie version of the stories.

The interesting thing is that the more you grow up and start entering the workforce the greater the need to be actively knowledgeable and staying current with your job industry trends.

You can’t go anywhere without information and knowledge today I mean you can go across the room but you won’t go across the country.

If you do an introspection you can not name one career driven successful person that does not read something everyday because the way we improve ourselves and value to others is mainly through observation and reading stories and experiences of others.

The point is that to be extremely valuable at work you need to constantly educate and train yourself everyday so you can prepare for anything that life and work comes with because if you don’t display confidence you will not get paid.

Education should change you if it does not then it did not work because there are lot of people these days that drop more money on the looks of their cars then they do on their career education and knowledge.

If you think that getting training and education is too expensive for you then you must wait until you pay the price for not investing in it and you will pretty much receive the LIFE bill for continued and prolonged ignorance and under performance at work.

This statement below is one of my all time favourite:

I reference the situation in Johannesburg currently with the outburst and outcry of the South African public regarding the new Joburg DA mayor Herman Mashaba who was recently asked what is his message to Africa’s young aspiring career driven and entrepreneurs?

His response was :

“My advice to them is to rely on your own personal instinct and your own personal drive. Please don’t be misled by thinking that the politicians are going to be the ones to give you economic freedom. If you want economic freedom, you have to really strive for it yourself”

Whether you like him or not but his advice is critical as embarking on your chosen career path needs tremendous discipline, building skills and gaining massive amount of knowledge to shape your professional trajectory.

Therefore do note that in the modern workforce its a jungle where only the prepared and knowledgeable will win and eat everything but perhaps if we lessened spending money on our faces and lungs and spent it more on our careers we will surely fulfill our potential.

Share this with your friends and work colleagues right now and as a gift to you, I just recently did a TV interview discussing the mindset, actions and books recommended today for a prosperous work life. Check it out here

Stay focused,

@amacmakaring

Andile Amac Makaring is a Mozambican/South African born entrepreneur with a background in organisational psychology and product management applying lean methodologies to unsolved problems. Makaring is a well respected, highly regarded master sales, media and technology person.