We’ve all heard the famous line, “dress for the job you want to have, not the job you have.” That’s all fine and dandy but at the end of the day, business owners, investors, stockholders, and most likely the managers you see everyday, don’t give a damn about what you’re wearing. They care about how hard you’re working. The reason why nobody turns “dress for your job” into “work for you job” is because there are a large number of people out there who are… unmotivated. As I like to think of it, “some people just don’t get it.” You have to think long term and understand the big picture, not the easiest way to the weekend.

If you want to be promoted to manager, you should be working as hard, or harder, than the current manager now. Let’s say you want to some day be the CEO, or in some other upper level position, making $100k+ a year — you are never going to get there by keeping your day at a strict 8-hour maximum and taking every last second of the weekend off for personal time. You can get there by working hard, being that man or woman who stays 2 or 3 hours after everyone else, going above and beyond expectations, and volunteering your time for special projects on the weekends.

If you’re not willing to put in the time and effort to go above and beyond in your entry level position, why would a manager think to promote you to a position that requires more hard work and the uptake of more responsibilities? If you’re 100% content with your current professional position, then there’s no need to put in the extra effort. If there’s no need to advance, then there’s no need to excel in what you do. Fortunately, as humans, we have a natural desire to be more successful. If you care about advancing, you have to prove your value as an employee and you must understand that your value isn’t granted to you based on how long you’ve been with the company or how experienced you think you are. Like it or not, that’s just how it works.

It’s really easy to pick out the employees who care and the ones that don’t. Hard work is very noticeable and it ALWAYS pays off in some form or another. If money is what drives you, don’t think about how much you’re making now. Think about how much you’ll be making after five years of hard work. If you don’t think this applies to your job, I automatically challenge you to a debate. Want to know how you can stand out in your job? Just ask.