You have to be a champion: How to be successful, step one.
Champions do it themselves. Winners ask for aid. Heroes know what they cannot handle. Geniuses need guidance. Realists take the reins. High achievers deliver. Warriors ask: “What if?”
This is to say, without confusion or apology, that the best comes to those who bravely self-assess, bend only the silliest rules (considering them their betterment in tandem with the concerns of others), and do it anyway.
Doing it can be anything from saying, “I want this”, “How do I move forward?”or “How do I demonstrate aptitude and interest?”
In short: How can I help? Helping requires learning, not controlling. Not beating, but learning with a venom that is deadly to self-interested decadence. Instead, helpers focus on community building, engaging, bringing in the others necessary and curious enough to achieve on a level that benefits the most.
Excellence is marginally selfish, and exponentially selfless.
Bringing it down - you are looking at LinkedIn and itchy on the “quick apply” button. Knock it off! You are not a robot (check this box and name the number of crosswalks please). Humans hire humans. The best humans who hire humans treat them with the respect that begets longevity and growth.
So in your job search, be the Tiger:
Research the company
Find a name
Create a context
Learn the culture and examine the compatibility
Direct you verbiage in the interview to demonstrate that your interest is in THEIR best interest
Great listeners finish first.
In the even smaller space, you have the gig. Secured the position - relationship committed? Check. Morning meeting? Project due? Team to build with a bunch of assholes - most of them combative, closed, angry, and (most criminal of all) uninspired? Check, check, and check. You’re there, but it’s as if your native tongue is alien. Communication, non-existent.
A small fry puts their head down. But not you: you’re a hot tamale that keeps an ear out, leaves the office, works their network, hires resources, contacts their heroes, and marks their calendar for a moving on due date.
Remember, or learn if you were never told (but honestly, I don’t buy that), that you don’t have the agency - you are the agent. Don’t step up - be who you are.
