I read this article to see how the word ‘amazing’ was used. Did the author mean ‘causing great surprise or wonder’ or just the more prosaic ‘very impressive’? Surely something or someone who has the capacity to ‘amaze’ should have some outstanding talent; should be capable of being a model. Of course, we all have talents and abilities but to be ‘amazing’ those talents should by definition, cause wonder – be wonderful.

So then I read on to see if the article offered concrete advice – a genuine ‘how to’ for becoming ‘amazing’. Not so much! So I’d like to review each of the ‘amazing’ suggestions to see how they can be applied in real life.

1 You are ready to step outside your comfort zone

Good – I agree that challenge is important. How do you suggest people do that? The article is silent. Here’s what I have found works. Talk to people; make friends; and say yes. A lot of self help articles/books talk about ‘building networks’ so people new to any undertaking rush feverishly at the ‘important people’ trying to make themselves stand out. Don’t bother. What works is taking time to take an interest In people – forget ‘important’. Listen. Make friends. Friends are your network. They care what happens to you and when things are rough, you will be surprised who can help. I have been ‘amazed’ who could get me a job or a contract. Just friends!

Say yes to every opportunity. Don’t try and second guess it’s ‘value’ just step forward. Doing this has given me the opportunity to learn to be an art curator, an archivist, an IT manager, an instructional designer and a communications specialist. So I have tried what I’m saying. I’ve been able to develop broad skills and apply them to reinvent myself professionally when that was needed.

So ‘how to step outside your comfort zone’ make friends as opposed to ‘establish a network’ and say YES when you’re asked to do any new thing in the workplace.

2. You are not afraid to fail

We all fail. It’s not pleasant and in recent times people have treated it like like something unmentionable. I think we should start from the premise that failure is part of life and we wouldn’t be so shocked when it happens.

How to ‘not be afraid to fail’? First acknowledge that the thought of failure is frightening. It’s like public speaking. I’ve had to do a lot of that and of course, I get nervous. I acknowledge that up front. Just say out loud ‘I’m a bit nervous today’ and every person in the room is with you then because they know they would be nervous too. Failure is the same. We don’t want to fail – but we will. Sometimes in a small thing like missing a deadline or failing an exam. Sometimes spectacularly. But the opportunity is in living through the failure. You need to know that you need time to recover and repair. If the failure is small – you might be embarrassed for a few days. If it’s bigger you may need a program to rebuild yourself. I've had to do that. I didn’t go ‘into a program’ I devised my own. I took control of what I could control – me. I did all the things I could think of that would repair me. I walked, prayed, took Vitamin B, got 8 hours sleep and saw a psychologist. There was lots more. What it is doesn’t matter. It’s the taking control that’s important. It took a year – but in the end I was stronger than I’d been. So accept that failure is a normal learning experience. Reflect on failure and what it has taught you. It makes you stronger and more agile next time you fail.

3. You have planned to invest in yourself

Invest in yourself. What does that mean? I believe in life long learning and consequently I have built qualifications in many of the areas in which I’ve worked. That certainly supports agility in the employment market. I didn’t really ‘plan to’ continue with education. I followed an interest in being good at what I was doing after saying ‘yes’ to something I hadn’t previously done (see point 1 above)

The other investment might be in reflection honesty and humility. Each day I engage in 10 minutes of reflective practice on my way home. It’s just 10 minutes thinking about the day in a focused way. I acknowledge what went well and put that to one side. It’s not an egocentric exercise but knowing that things went well first reminds you that your day has been productive. Then I think of things that did not go well. I try to consider honestly my role in the things that went less well. I consider the involvement of others in both the things that went well and the things that went not so well. In the first case that reminds me that others contribute to my success. In the second case I do not look to blame myself or others but to see if there is a relationship that needs work; a staff member who needs training or support; or if I was responsible. At the end of 10 minutes I generally know if there is something I have to do at the start of the next day – and I put my working day away. Reflective practice is a critical and free investment in yourself. Try it.

4. You have decided to ignore everybody and focus on building the life you care about, not a temporary career.

I don’t believe that ignoring everyone is useful. It means you are not seeking the input of mentors or people who could help you. Making your own decisions is important but sense checking them doesn’t hurt.

I’m caught by the notion of a ‘temporary career’ particularly as that is the way of the world now. Of course you might be a physicist or an opera singer for your whole career but most of us will have a series of satisfying but temporary careers in a changing world. The people who established this blog could not have had that job 30 years ago. This point contradicts points 1 and 2. If you’re willing to ‘step outside your comfort zone’ and ‘you are not afraid to fail’ then you will have a range of careers. The critical thing for the individual is transferable skills. Know your skill base. Can you write; manage a budget; do you have project management and HR experience? Then you can manage most things. See what I mean?

The world in my experience will not ‘fit with you’ and you run the risk of being seen as difficult, spoilt and egocentric if you follow that advice too early in your career – before you have anything to support your aspirations.

5. You want to assume nothing but question everything

Ok. Questions are good. Don’t be afraid to question things but work out the right person to ask and consider the timing.

Finally, the article says ‘everything you want is only a dream away’. That’s nonsense. I’m tired of reading things like that. My worst nightmares in the workplace have overtime turned out to be blessings – because I used the experience. But if everything I wanted was only a dream away and I can say these things ended up building something good including redirecting my career – I still wouldn’t have dreamt those things.