The one unifying aspect of affecting your current situation or enabling you to change for the better comes down to three simple words: Do Great Work!
Over the past few weeks I've had conversations with college near-graduates, recent hires, people searching for what's next in their current situation, a few people who have lost or left jobs, and a couple who are ready to jump shops. With very rare exception, the theme remains the same: do great work!
Vince Lombardi once said "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Which is exactly the point, though it's not what people really want to hear. Let's break this down.
Do great work where you are
Almost every manager and employer wants and needs impassioned employees who throw all of who they are in to what they do. Look around the typical work space and you'll find loads of people wading through their day, shuffling paper or moving widgets from one shelf to the next. These same people tend to be the ones who complain that they never get noticed, they never get promoted, they never get a raise or a bonus or the good office or (fill in your choice of frustration here).
Want to get noticed? Get a raise? Get a bonus or a good office or a better shot at doing what you really want to do? Do great work! Take the initiative and make a difference. Understand how to compromise without settling for forgettable. Upper management is looking for people who rise above. You can do that. Do that.
What if no one notices you where you are? Do great work, and network. You may very well be in a space where people just can't see the value in what you do. But someone will. And someone else will be glad to have you on their team doing exactly what you're doing.
Fear losing your job? Do great work!
In times of tight economies and business fluctuations, tough decisions have to be made on who stays and who goes. If you really want to be one of the ones who stay, you need to do great work. It's the differentiator. No company wants to see the best talent walk out the door, and if it comes down to you versus your neighbor, the one who's getting it done most often gets to stay.
Sure there are exceptions, so let's say you do find yourself in the firing line. I've been there a number of times. It's not fun. But here's a key nobody ever seems to talk about: it's incredibly hard to join a new company and kick into a higher gear if you left your last job stinking up the place. Your next employer is going to evaluate you based on where you've been and what you accomplished while there. Do great work!
If you get laid off and have an amazing track record of successes, you're already in a better position than the next guy who coasted and got laid off, too. There are other companies that need someone like you. Do great work!
Bad bosses are out there. I've known a few. Even if you're the top performer in the company you could be fired. Fine. Chances are good that your next interviewer had a bad boss or two as well. You have an excellent track record of successes that will play out very well in your interview. And they need someone like you. Do great work!
Newly hired? Do great work!
Once you land that new role, assess the landscape and the people around you, join the community, find others who want to make a difference in the world and do great work together. Seriously. Pour your passion into what you do and make it count.
I challenge people to find one thing each month that they worked on that makes them proud. One thing. You'd be amazed at how many people struggle to find one. I then ask them to identify the top one or two things they accomplished for each quarter. For the calendar challenged, that's three months of effort that far too often blows by us because we get caught up in doing work, but not great work. Break that habit!
Make it a point to find at least one thing each quarter that stands out for you. One per quarter is just four per year. Stay at your job for three years and you'll have twelve great stories to tell in your next interview. Every HR manager on the planet will tell you that number puts you ahead of the game. And every HR manager is looking for people who do great work.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to one simple idea: Do great work!
You'll make a difference where you are and could seriously impact where you're going. It takes effort. It takes courage. It takes looking at the world in whole new ways. But the world is looking for people willing to make a difference, for people who will change the trajectory. The world needs you to do great work.