Motivational

Rule 70: Prepare for the step after next

November 21, 2016

Nigeria’s Billionaire Industrialist, Aliko Dangote

Sorry
but you can’t coast. You are a Rules
Player now and you must stick at it – no days off, no rests, no breaks, no
putting your feet up drinking coffee and staring into space. Back to the
grindstone. So, you’ve got your eye on
the next step, the next job. Fine, good.
But what about after that? What’s
your next step? What’s your next target?

Even
before you’ve got your next promotion you should already be practicing for the
next step. Because if you aren’t getting
ready now, when will you be? There is
always an opportunity to miss a step out, to skip over a promotion if you play
this game well. I’m not suggesting this
should always be your aim, but be prepared just in case it happens.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Of
course you have your long – and short-term plans – Rule 21 – so you will
have plotted your career path and know the steps you have to take on your great
journey. Even now you will be getting
people to assume you have already made the next step, acting the part of the
next step, walking your walk, and talking as if you were already the boss, but
it doesn’t hurt to start practicing for the step after that.

“He was preparing for
his next step. He took to coming to work
carrying a briefcase when none of his colleagues did – none of us needed one.
Trouble is Ray’s briefcase fell open
one day and revealed to the entire world that all it contained was his sandwiches,
a newspaper and a set of keys”.

Letting
people see that you are officer material is no bad thing. Once people get in the habit of assuming you
are a high flier you become one. If you
dress down, talk trivia, don’t pull your weight and act like you are a drudge
or a drone you will get accepted as that and stay right where you are.

Look
around the office. Can you spot the drudges
and the drones? The worker ants? The plodders and the sluggers? Now look again and spot the high fliers, the
heavyweight, the go-getters, the live wires.
Can you see how acting the part makes you that part? Can you?
Can you?

Whatever
step you are preparing for, make sure that everything you do is genuine, real
and worthwhile. I once worked with a
young man who was a high flier. He was
preparing for his next step. He took to
coming to work carrying a briefcase when none of his colleagues did – none of
us needed one. Trouble is Ray’s briefcase fell open one day
and revealed to the entire world that all it contained was his sandwiches, a
newspaper and a set of keys. It was
humiliating for him, embarrassing for us and sad for everyone. Make sure your
briefcase is full of real stuff just in case this – or anything like it happens
to you.

(Excerpts from THE
RULES OF WORK by Richard Templer Read “How to Cultivate Diplomacy’” from The Rules tomorrow on Asabeafrika)

Rule-to-Work Series