The following excerpt was taken from Shane Rodgers\u2019 blog \u201cThe Career Advice I wish I had at 25.\u201d We are all guilty of falling into one of these traps as we pursue our careers. None of these are necessarily bad, but we must learn to pace ourselves and keep the \u201cbig picture\u201d in mind. If we are not careful, we will undoubtedly become burnt out with work or miss important personal events and opportunities. Read on to see how Shane advises us to keep a good work-life balance.<\/p>\n
1. A career is a marathon, not a sprint
\n<\/b>Life, and the careers we pursue to fill it and pay the bills, need to be approached on a long-term basis. If you sprint you will wear out or start to resent work that you previously enjoyed. Allow yourself time to breathe and grow. Things will come if you work hard and allow yourself time to get good at things.<\/p>\n
2. Deprioritize your career when your kids are young
\n<\/b>If you have skills, commitment and passion, careers tend to take care of themselves. Over the long haul, it really doesn\u2019t matter if you have a few years when your career is in canter mode while you prioritize young children. This should apply to men and women. Childhood is fleeting. When it is in its formative stages, you get one chance.<\/p>\n
3. Management is about people, not things
\n<\/b>It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that all people are equal, behave the same every day, and have a generic capacity to perform. Humans are simply not made like that. Business guru Jack Welch says the workforce consists of 20 percent of people who are high performers, 10 percent that you should get rid of, and 70 percent who do okay. The problem is 70 percent. Most managers want everyone in the 20 percent. We need to be careful not to believe that 70 percent are underperformers. Sometimes we need to celebrate the competence of the masses not the superpowers of the elite. As managers, we are not managing things, we are empowering people and making the best use of whatever it is they bring to the table.<\/p>\n
4. Don\u2019t just network with people your own age
\n<\/b>Beware the whiz kid syndrome. Smart, young people have a habit of forming communities of other smart young people and feeding off each other\u2019s energy. In the older world, they are seen as \u201cbright young things\u201d that give confidence that the future is in good hands. Argghhhh. How many times have you heard that? Youth enclaves can actually be restrictive. Smart 20-somethings should make sure they network with older people too. In fact, their networking should be about meeting useful mentors and career champions who can open doors and fast-track careers. Similarly, older, successful people shouldn\u2019t just sit in musty clubs talking about the 1970s. They should be proactively seeking out smart, young people who can shake them out of their comfort zone and open their eyes to new ideas.<\/p>\n
5. Take the time to understand what your business does
\n<\/b>I love the story of President J F Kennedy\u2019s visit to NASA during which he asked a cleaner what his job was. The cleaner replied that he sent rockets to the moon. All of us should feel part of what our organizations actually do. We should take the time to be part of the big picture and always feel connected with the true objectives of our workplace. Don\u2019t wait for someone to tell you or lament that internal communication is crap. Find out for yourself.<\/p>\n
6. Never sacrifice personal ethics for a work reason
\n<\/b>Crucial to workplace happiness is value alignment. If you work somewhere that compromises your personal ethics and values, get out of there as quickly as you can. Good people will be unnerved by things that don\u2019t feel right. If it doesn\u2019t feel right, it probably isn\u2019t. Bad things only manifest when good people don\u2019t take a stand.<\/p>\n
7. Recognize that failure is learning
\n<\/b>As bizarre as it might sound, failing is not failure. Researchers recognize that failure is just part of a process to eliminate unsuccessful options. To misquote Woody from Toy Story, when we make a few mistakes, we are not failing, just falling \u2013 with style. Even fairy-tale princesses recognize that you need to kiss a lot of toads before you find a handsome prince. Thomas Edison articulated this best: \u201cI have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that don\u2019t work.\u201d If we fear failure we tend to take a minimalist approach to our jobs and the opportunities around us. Takes some risks. Sometimes failing spectacularly is the best evidence that we are alive, human, and serious about aspiring to the extraordinary. There is no value in being ordinary when you have the capacity to be remarkable.<\/p>\n