3 Ways to Have More Wins in Your Career
“Are you winning today?”
A former colleague liked to ask this question every time he saw me. He probably just meant it like, “How are you doing?” but it really threw me off because I had always thought of winning as a zero-sum game. It was like a competition and I didn't really like keeping score. So, this question was unpleasant for me and I never knew how to answer.
Fast forward to now, I've come to see that “win” is just another beautiful three letter word like “joy”. What's changed is I’ve adopted an abundance mindset.
When you've got that abundance mindset you can see winning as a real positive. In fact, we can all win. It's not a case of one person wins therefore another person has to lose.
When there's abundance, we can all win. And in fact, our life, work and careers are even better when we help each other win. There's no limit to how many wins any one of us can have.
There’s also no size or scale requirement for what constitutes an important win. Big wins are terrific and can be used as an energizing way of predetermining your goals for the year.
But just as big wins are important, there are also three other kinds of wins that are equally important.
1. Small Wins
Small wins are the kind of wins that can lead to bigger impact and broader implications later on. For example, a small win could be that a new client you've been calling and calling and calling, finally calls you back. That's a win and an indication that your relationship with them is going places.
Or it could be that you get a compliment from a director. Or it could be that you win over a colleague who’s been difficult in the past.
It’s important to celebrate these small wins and to appreciate the fact that they're small now, but they're going to pay bigger dividends later.
2. Easy Wins
Think of easy wins as the low hanging fruit. An easy win could be something super simple like saying “hello” and smiling at everybody that you meet during the day. It's a positive habit that tends to improve relationships and results while making you feel happier too.
Or it could be getting in the habit of sending very short two-line emails to your manager to update them so they'll always know what you're doing. That way, they'll have some material to brag about you or brag about the team. Who knows? This could even turn into one of those small wins that has a really big impact later.
3. Early Wins
Early wins are really helpful because they help you build momentum and confidence. Especially as you're gearing up toward those big wins for the year, getting those early wins helps win over sceptics and gives your supporters positive things to say on your behalf.
Look out for and use those early wins to build confidence for yourself and for your team.
Key Takeaways
What to do with your wins:
- Celebrate the small wins
- Act on the easy wins
- Be on the lookout for the early wins so you can bank some of them quickly
What small win will you celebrate today?
Leave me a comment and let me know.
I loved Greg McKeowen, I have been able to have some small win to develop my career and also help my team do the same. Loved it, thank you.
Wonderful, Craig. Greg McKeown is wonderful indeed, and I’m delighted you’ve had some small wins and also helped your team to do the same. Thanks for spreading the wisdom from Career Mastery™ Kickstart! Keep going!
I work in the film industry where rejections and career struggles occur on a daily basis, so celebrating every win is paramount to helping one stay positive as well as serving as a motivation to keep going no matter what is happening. One of the things I’m implementing in my life (especially when I’m having an off day) is to take pause and look at how far I’ve come rather than how far I have to go. I’ve been documenting this in a journal and not only do I feel better, but I can see the evidence of how my hard work has paid off and is continuing to pay off. So, while in the pursuit of your goals and dreams, don’t forget to celebrate yourself!
Awesome, Erika! And we’re celebrating with you too. Keep going!
I loved every episode. outstanding knowledge and wisdom. I am very grateful and thankful. Thanks a million.
I’m so glad to hear CMK has been helpful to you, Desi!
Ive gone through almost every episode of the career mastery and it was great to be through this journey in the start of the year,and at the right moment when im through so many hurdles in my career.Ive started implementing many of my learning from the day one like Network building,mentally drawing a picture of 5 yrs Ahead,tracking time by creating more white spaces in the calendar ,Self awareness ,Do less and obsess,being a good boss etc etc 🙂 .Overall I see a good positive impact within me and my team is all geared up for the road ahead and im sure I will have stories(“Winning” stories) to narrate the year end!
Thank you so much May
Awesome action-taking, Akilla! And congratulations for sharing this with your team as well – none of us can succeed alone.
I’m glad you’re already seeing positive impact, and look forward to hearing more “winning” stories over the course of the year. Thanks for being part of Career Mastery™ Kickstart!
I used to have lots of moments I recognized as wins at my previous workplace. Not all of them small, cause I frequently really achieved what I wanted to achieve, sometimes even more. Of course, my goals were (and still are) rather “modest”, but now I won’t be thinking that being happy even with a small win is “too much” any more!
Wonderful that you’ve experienced so many wins already, Olga. Keep going!
Abel
The prime lesson that i draw from Career Mastery™ Kickstart is the importance of building relation for career progress. Thus far, the emphasis that i gave for building relationship is so poor. From the podcasts, i got insights on the value and how part of building relationship – which is very important. Coming to the small wins, i start to building valuable relationships with various work units and sawing seeds that will actualize the same. Extend my sincere gratitude for all presenters of the podcasts.
Congratulations, Abel – this is a marvelous lesson to draw. I love that you have already taken action! Keep sowing those seeds – I know they will bring you value and you will also be helping those others in the meantime as well.
Wishing you well in your career!
I’ve really loved watching these videos! Short and to the point! The biggest takeaway I’ve had so far is in really determining what the top 3 focuses are for my role (what really add value) and focusing more of my time on those things. I spend so much time answering emails, but is that what really adds value in the big picture? Being able to sit with my team and supervisor to get everyone on the same page regarding focuses and our path for the future has been so helpful!
IQRA
Career Mastery is a “quench” for a dry thirst. Thank you for the delightful insights. The Creator has truly blessed us with much wisdom to share. I agree with the philosophy that sharing is NOT a threat to individuals careers. In fact, sharing is an opportunity for reciprocity. What you give of good will be returned to you of good. It is a win-win! Also, Strategic Thinking was a plus for me among other gems. When you make good intentions, plan and follow it up with action, the reward is a “WIN.” The bigger the action, the bigger the “WIN.” In Corporate America one tip my Vice President said to me was, do the work, but have fun! May you have that persona and wear it well. We can be professional, perfect our craft and enjoy it at the same time.
TODAY I CHOOSE WISDOM
WISDOM I CHOOSE TO SHARE
WISDOM IS MY GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE
I SHARE MY GIFT WITH YOU
TODAY I CHOOSE WISDOM
Again, I appreciate the Career Mastery Webinar.
May Almighty God grant all of you peace, joy and success.
As most people do, at the end of 2018/beginning of 2019 I spent some time reflecting on where I am and where I want to be. I reviewed my vision and set some goals (not resolutions) for 2019. I broke those down into monthly goals and those down further, as needed. Each day is a small win because it helps me progress toward achieving my 2019 goals and, even more important, my vision.
The Career Mastery Kickstart has reinforced that I am on the right track. I especially like Neen James! Her energy and excitement were contagious and I am reworking my development plan to be in 90-day cycles.
Success is a journey, not a destination and participating in CMK2019 is keeping me on the success journey!
I am trying to view my approach goals as easy wins. If the steps to reaching my goals can be scaled to manageable tasks/activities, then I can plan for them incrementally and push myself to move forward, when procrastinating sometimes seems the more appealing choice. It is somehow making the whole venture less overwhelming. Nobody eats the elephant in one bite!
Congratulations, we “win”. I’m saying this has already happened, but it will happen again, “aha” we won the competition, and we know we won because we were good at cooperating and we had lots of good ideas. Thank you May, was exceptional summit