2012 SPECIAL EMPLOYEE EDITION

THE HABITS THAT GET YOU MORE AND PROMOTED FASTER

By Kabaso Sydney Mupukwa

The habits that get you paid more and promoted faster is a motivation book meant for employees. 27 habits have been discovered and tried and found worth by the author himself. He now reveals them to you in form of a book.

Knowledge from Psychology, Psychonemomunology, Philosophy and the word of God has been blended into 27 habits to employees answer two most important questions.

• How can I earn more money in my job?
• What do I need to do to be promoted?

It is the book recommended for employees who wants to make a difference in their job, regardless of their past failures and demotions.

The book is accompanied by a CD and DVD on the same subject. For consultancy and bookings and more resources. Contact the author on+260966717712. email:kabasosydn@yahoo.com or visit our website: http: www.kabsyconsultancyservices.wordpress.com

INTRODUCTION

“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit – and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him – and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.” (John Paul Getty)

Confucius once wrote, “He who would rule must learn to obey.” The most successful executives, entrepreneurs and managers are usually excellent as employees on their way up. They learn or develop the habits that enable them to make a significant, valuable contribution to their companies and organizations, and as a result, they get paid more and promoted faster than the people around them. This should be your goal as well. Most self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs who start and build their own successful businesses. But many self-made millionaires are salespeople and executives of successful businesses who do an excellent job, make an excellent contribution and get paid extremely well, both in the form of cash and stock.

Only about 1% of the population has the temperament and combination of abilities necessary for successful entrepreneurship. But fully 99% of the population has the ability to work well in a specific job or occupation. Since you will probably spend 95% of your life working for someone else, on average, it is absolutely essential that you learn how to make yourself valuable, and then indispensable. This is the key to your success at work.

Your Choices Are Unlimited

There are more than 100,000 different jobs and job categories in Zambia alone. There are an unlimited number of things that you can do to earn a good living and to achieve financial independence. You must therefore develop the habit of thinking about the work that you would most love to do. Instead of accepting whatever job or position comes along, you should be continually thinking about your ideal job, exactly as if you could design it personally in every respect. The highest paid and most successful people in our society do what they love to-do, as much of the time as they possibly can. You should continually be standing back, examining yourself objectively, and then practicing the habit of focusing on your special talents and abilities.

Each person is born with the ability to do one or more things in an exceptional fashion. Just as you have multiple intelligences, you have multiple abilities as well. You will only really be happy and successful when you find the kind of work that taps into the unique talents you have today, or which you can develop tomorrow.

The Ideal Job for You

Dr. Victor Frankly, the founder of Logo therapy, wrote that there are four types of jobs that you can do. The first of these jobs are hard to learn and hard to do. This type of work would include a task like accounting or bookkeeping for a person who has no natural skill in that area. It would be hard to learn, and no matter how many years you did it, it would be hard to do. Many people find themselves in jobs or careers where they are mismatched in terms of their natural abilities and what the job requires. Their work is always hard and seldom satisfying. Don’t let this happen to you. 

The second type of job that frankly identified was a job that was hard to learn but easy to do. This may be a skill like typing with a keyboard or flying an airplane. It takes tremendous dedication and concentration to learn, but once you have mastered it, it is quite easy to do, hour after hour. Unfortunately, this type of job can become boring and unchallenging over time. It seldom causes you to stretch your capabilities and grow your talents.

The third type of job you might find yourself in is a job that easy to learn but hard to do. Physical labor falls into this category, like digging a ditch. It’s easy to learn to do a physically difficult job, but it is always hard to do, no matter how long you do it. Think about chopping wood!

The fourth job category, and the most important, are those things that you find easy to learn and easy to do. You learned it so easily, and do it so naturally, that you almost forget when and how you learned it in the first place.

As you can imagine, the jobs and tasks that are easy to learn and easy to do are the best indicators of your natural talents and abilities. This is where you are the most likely to do the best job, get the best results, and to be paid the very most.

Throughout your life and career, you must be continually analyzing your activities to identify the things that you learn and do easily, and from which you get the best results and rewards. This type of work for you is the key to career success.

Focus on Contribution

Even if you are running your own business, as we teach in our Entrepreneurial Coaching Programs, your most important responsibility to yourself is to identify the few things that you do the most easily, that you enjoy, and which make the greatest contribution to your work or to your company. Your job is then to organize your workday and your work life so that you spend more and more time doing more of the things that you do best and get the best results from. This is the key to entrepreneurial success.

Kabaso in Swaziland (Teen Challenge Center).

 

The fact is that the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life. The more time that you spend thinking, about who you are, in terms of your natural talents and abilities, what you most want from your work, the better decisions you will make and the more you will accomplish. This way of thinking is essential in your choices of a job, a boss, an industry and a career.

Before you take your first job, or when you change jobs in the course of your career, stop for a moment and draw a line under the past. Imagine that you are starting over, with all the knowledge and skill that you have accumulated to this date. Look around you at all the opportunities that are open to you, and then take your time in choosing the right job or business for you at your current level of knowledge, skill and development. Invest your time and your life carefully.

They are all you’ve got, and they are irreplaceable.

Seek Opportunity versus Security

People are always asking me how they can make more money in their current jobs. I ask them what sort of jobs they do, and what sort of companies they work for. They often tell me that they are working in an industry where sales are flat or declining, or they are working for a company that is not growing. Sometimes they are doing a job where the pay is largely fixed, and in which there are few opportunities for advancement or higher income. In these cases, I have to tell them that they are in a situation that has a limited future, and only an unsatisfactory present.

Look around you in the current job market. What are the businesses and industries that are growing in sales and popularity? What are the products and services that are selling well? What are the companies with increasing profits and rising stock prices? What are the states or regions of the country that have the most companies and industries that seem to be prospering?

If you sincerely want to become a millionaire over the course of your lifetime, you must be prepared to make important changes, including moving geographically from one part of the country to another if necessary. You must be prepared to leave a job or industry if the prospects for that industry are declining. You must be honest with yourself.

Many people have totally changed their lives, dramatically increased their incomes, put their careers onto the fast track, and moved rapidly toward financial independence, by making major changes in where they were working or what they were doing.

Ignore the Past and Focus on the Future

There is a concept in accounting called a “sunk cost.” These are defined as money that has been spent and which cannot be recouped. They are funds that are gone forever in a company or business, like last year’s advertising. They cannot be retrieved. They have no value. They are sunk, as in a deep ocean.

You have sunk costs in your career as well. You may have invested weeks, months and even years in getting an education or acquiring experience in a particular field.

But the market has changed and there may be no demand for what you are capable of doing. No one is willing to hire you or pay you very much to do it.

Just like investing in a company that was not successful, many people have invested an enormous amount of time and money in the development of talents and skills for which there is no existing or future market. But they have a hard time facing this fact, or admitting it to themselves, or others.

Practice Zero Based Thinking Regularly

One of the most important habits you can develop is the habit of “zero based thinking.” In zero based thinking, you put every one of your previous decisions on trial for its life on a regular basis. You ask this question, “Is there anything that I am doing today that, knowing what I now know, I wouldn’t get into again today, if I had to do it over?” Apply this question to every part of your life, and especially apply it to your job, position, career and current situation. If you were not now doing what you are currently doing, would you go into it again today, know what you now know about this area? Asking and answering this question takes a good deal of courage.

The fact is that in a world of rapid change, you will always have situations that, with your current knowledge, you wouldn’t get into again today if you had the choice. These situations will almost always be the primary causes of stress or dissatisfaction in your life. They will cause you the most aggravation and frustration. If you stay in a zero based situation long enough, it can even make you physically ill.

If the answer to this question, “Is there anything that I’m doing that I wouldn’t get into again today?” is “yes”, then your next question should be, “How do I get out of this situation, and how fast?” Often you can change your entire life by simply having the courage to face up to the fact that your previous decision has not turned out to be as good as you originally thought. There is nothing wrong with this. You are not perfect. Everyone makes decisions that they later regret, based on new information. This will happen throughout your life. The only question is, “How long are you going to stay in a situation that you know is not right for you?” It is not possible for you to be successful and happy in your career or job if, knowing what you now know, you wouldn’t even get into it again today if you had it to do over.

Getting the Ideal Job for You

Once you have decided what it is that you most enjoy doing, and which you have is the potential to do extremely well, and you have decided the part of the country and type of business you would like to work in, the next step is for you to begin the process of “informational interviewing.” Instead of applying for a job in a particular company, you merely seek information about what is going on in that company and industry. You can even position or imagine yourself as a “reporter” in the process of gathering information to write a story.

You begin your search by calling up a decision maker in a company in an industry in which you would like to work and saying something like this, “I am doing some research on this business (or industry) and I would very much like to get a few minutes of your time to ask you how you see your business evolving and developing

in the future.”

You will be amazed at how open people are to talking to you about the company or business they work in. After you have spoken to people in several companies, you will have assembled an excellent information base that will enable you to determine first of all, whether you want to work in that industry, and second of all, which particular company you would like to work for.

Many years ago, new in town, and having no experience in the business, I conducted this process with the top four companies in the industry. Within one month, I received job offers from all four companies, and accepted the one with the best reputation and the toughest hiring standards. This method really works! Remember, your time is your life. Choose your job with care. You are going to be exchanging a certain amount of your life for that job, and your time is more important than the money that you will receive. Money can be replaced, but time spent is gone forever.

Take the Time to Choose Well

In taking a new job, choose your boss with care. One of the fastest ways to move ahead rapidly in your career is to work for an excellent boss. An excellent boss is invariably someone who is competent and capable, positive and constructive, and under whom you can learn and grow at a rapid rate. Almost every successful person can tell you of a boss that he had at a certain point in his career that became a key factor in his subsequent success.

On the other hand, some people fall into the habit of taking whatever job is offered to them when they need a job, and working for whichever boss they happen to get.

They take whatever work assignments are given to them and accept whatever hours or working conditions are offered. Instead of being self-reliant and self determined, they become reactive and accepting. Instead of seeing themselves as responsible and in charge of their own careers, they begin to see themselves as passive agents, merely doing what they are told to do. This is definitely not for you.

Two Habits for Rapid Advancement

Over the years, I have been invited to speak to graduating classes of business students. They invariably ask me for advice on how to get ahead in the world of work. I will tell you what I tell them.

There are two habits that you can develop that will help you get ahead faster than any success secrets you will ever learn. These habits will serve you well as an employee, as a manager or executive, or as an entrepreneur and business owner. They are simple, easy to learn and incredibly powerful.

To begin with, remember that the normal hours of work are simply averages, and they are for average employee. They have nothing to do with you. Instead, you should develop the habit of starting earlier, working harder and staying later. If the workday starts at 8:30 am, you should be at work and busy by 8 o’clock. You should work steadily all day long. If the workday ends at 5 o’clock, you should continue working until 5:30 or 6:00, or even later. The simple act of starting earlier, working harder and staying later, will increase your productivity by anything from 50% to 100%. The people who are in the best position to help you get ahead will soon notice these work habits. They will give you an edge over any of your co workers.

Develop the habit of asking for and accepting more responsibility. As soon as you feel that you are on top of your work, go to your boss and tell him that you want “more responsibility.” Tell him that you very much like your job, and you want to make an even more valuable contribution to the company. You are not asking for more money or for special recognition, you simply want “more responsibility.”

Fast-Tracking My Career

Many years ago, I went to work for a large company that had about 200 Employees in Luanshya Zambia. I was the low man on the list of contractors for HAMMIS a cleaning agent firm that was contracted by ZAMEFA. I was employed as a general cleaner; one of the responsibilities was to clean toilets. On the same day I joined this company, others were interviewed on whether they liked the job or not, 70 percent of my friends responded with a big No. Think what? On the same 30 percent of us who said yes remained and were employed, other 70 percent did not have the job, they became restless school leavers.

After a couple of weeks of this, feeling a little frustrated, I went to my boss, the Late Mr. Milambo. 

I worked in a Copper Processing Dept.

 

I was given a variety of small tasks to work on which changed from week to week of the company, and told him that I was caught up with my work, and that I wanted more responsibility. The fact is that I like to work, and I was bored. I wanted to be busier and more active. My desire for more responsibility was perfectly selfish. I remember that my boss nodded and smiled and told me that he would think about it. But nothing happened. Therefore, every couple of days, when I met with my boss, I would end the conversation by saying, “By the way, I would really like more work to do, more responsibility.”

Kabaso First days at ZAMEFA in Luanshya Zambia

  

Finally, about two weeks after I began this campaign, my boss asked me if I would take care of something for him that was outside of my basic job description. I thanked him very much, took it back to my office and began work on it.

And here’s a habit that I developed that changed my life. As soon as I received the additional responsibility that I had been asking for, I developed the habit of doing the job quickly and well. I got it done fast. I worked late into the night, and over the weekend to get this job finished in an excellent fashion and get it back to him.

He had given me the additional responsibility of conducting the word of God and safety meeting for 15 minutes ,Monday to Saturday as early as 06:45 to07:00 Am. I was making sure, that before any one, am there doing some prayers and hymns. Making sure, before he comes, he finds everything done; in the afternoon we were doing “house keeping” (safety terminology in a mining company) have even done the house keeping. Later on, in passing, he mentioned that he hadn’t needed it done immediately, but he thanked me for getting it done so quickly.

Keep Asking For More

Later that week, he complimented me once more on how well and how quickly the job had been done. I used this as an opportunity to immediately ask for more responsibility. Soon he gave me another job, and then another, and then another.

In every case, whatever he gave me to do; I grabbed it like a fumble in a football game and ran for yards. I took the job and immediately went to work on it, completing it quickly and getting it back to him long before he needed it. This did not go unnoticed.

In addition, I began observing some of the tasks that took up his time, and without asking, I began working on them and completing them as well, so they were done when he got in. I answered correspondence, dealt with client service problems, visited customers and gathered information to save him time. This did not go unnoticed either.

Your Chance Will Come

Then one day, a major project came up. He asked me if I was interested in taking charge of it. It was in an area in which I had never worked before, but I immediately agreed. I then threw my whole heart into doing the job quickly and well. After that, I was given another project, and then another, and then still another. By the end of one year, I had three divisions of the company working under me. I had moved move from a general cleaner, promoted to a Strip Specialist and then Scrap Departmental Safety Officer. Where I supervised more than 80 workers, whom we started the job with. It can be you today, continue reading more from my books and you are soon getting your promotion. 

The fact is that the time you decided to buy this paper, you joined a list of employees who are reading, watching and hearing to the same teaching all over the world.

By developing the reputation as being the “go-to guy” in the company, the one who got things done faster and better than anyone else, my star rose and rose and rose. My income doubled and tripled. I received bonuses and special incentives that enabled me to get into University.

Kabaso at Mulungushi University

 

Some time later, I was hired away by Mrs. S.K. Chomba the Director of Immaculata Business and Technical College in Kabwe as a Lecturer, I ended up learning more and more from her, what others can learn in 50 years of working with her to me it took only two years. It is from this work that we opened our own School with my friend Banda Gibson. We started to get more work from other Colleges and Companies and later learned that I was making more money in Consultancy business than working for somebody. 

Take Initiative and Get the Job Done Fast

Remember in my book “Habits of millionaires today “I talked about the importance of the qualities of action-orientation, and taking initiative. In every job, in every area, in every field, these qualities cause you to stand out favorably from everyone else around you. Whether you work for someone else or you run your own business, the qualities of taking responsibility and getting the job done fast will do more to help you to get paid more and promoted faster than any other two habits you can develop.

In Larry Bossidy’s best selling book Execution, based on his many years of running Fortune 500 corporations, he writes that the most valuable people he has ever met in business are those rare few who have developed the habit of fulfilling their responsibilities and getting the job done that were hired to do. In every study of successful people in business, this single characteristic seems to stand out. All successful people, in any job, in any organization, are those who take responsibility and move quickly to fulfill those responsibilities and get the results required of them. In business, results are everything.

Don’t Waste Time

One of the most important habits you can develop, which will help you in any job, is the habit of working all the time you work.

According to Robert Half International, the average employee works only 50% of the time. The other 50% of working time is largely wasted. It is spent in idle Chitchat and conversation with coworkers, coming in late, taking extended coffee breaks and lunches, and leaving early. It is dribbled away with private phone calls, reading the newspaper, personal business and surfing the Internet. Only 50% of the time for which the average person is paid is actually spent on work-related activities.

What is even worse is that, when the average employee is actually working, he or she does the tasks that are fun and easy rather than the jobs that are hard and important. Most people “major in minors” and work on low priority activities. When you discipline yourself to focus on high priority tasks and to make every minute count, you will immediately separate yourself from everyone else, and take full control of your career and your future.

Resolve to work all the time you work. Start a little earlier, and when you get in,

go to work immediately. If someone wants to talk to you, you say that you would like to chat with him or her, but not right now. Right now, you have to get “back to work!”

Keep repeating to yourself the mantra, “Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!” Tell your coworkers that you can socialize with them after work, if you have the time. And then get back to work.

Be a Hard Worker

Imagine that a management-consulting firm is going to come into your company and do a survey one year from today. In this survey, they are going to ask everyone in the company to rank everyone else in the company in terms of who works the hardest, all the way down to who works the least hard. Imagine that your goal is to come out on the top of this survey. Every single day that you are at work, imagine that you are being watched with hidden cameras. At the end of the month or the year, a vote is going to be taken on the hardest working person in the company.

Your job is to be sure that you win this vote. There is nothing that will bring you to the attention of people who can help you faster than developing a habit for hard, hard work. In every study of successful people, whether they are athletes, executives, entrepreneurs or self-made millionaires in any field, the most obvious habit they have is that they work much longer and harder than their coworkers.

Join the Elite

There have been many studies about wealth and poverty in Zambia and Africa as a all, and worldwide. These studies try to explain income distribution and are often used as the basis for welfare payments, unemployment compensation and levels of taxation.

Again and again, these studies show that the highest paid people in Zambia work about 70 hours a week. The lowest paid people in Zambia. The ones at the poverty line work fewer than 25 hours per week. The highest paid households in have two or more people who work long, hard hours. The most impoverished

Households in Zambia and Africa are those that have perhaps one wage earner who works only a few hours per week. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how much you are paid. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how rapidly you are promoted. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and the value of the contribution that you make to your company.

People who work longer hours are invariably more valuable, paid more and promoted faster than people who do not.

The Key to Career Success

Andrew Grove, the Chairman of Intel, was interviewed in Fortune Magazine some time ago. He was asked what he felt to be the biggest changes that had taken place in the world of work in the last decade. He answered that, “In my estimation, the two most important changes were these: First of all, every person today is now the architect of his or her own career. Each person has to see himself or herself as completely responsible for everything that happens to them, especially for their own work habits, and their own training and development. No one could rely on a company taking care of them throughout their careers.”

His second observation was even more important. He said that today, the key to

Success in any job today is to “add value.” At one time, you could get a job, reach

a certain level of accomplishment, and then coast for months and even years on your previous achievements. Today however, you must be looking for ways to add value every single day. Your company no longer cares what you might have accomplished in the past. The main question today is, “What have you done for me

lately?”

Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahaled, two of the top strategic planners in the world today, in their book Competing for the Future, write that the key to competitive advantage for companies is to project forward five years and identify the core competencies and skills that they will be need to be market leaders at that time. By the same token, one of the most important habits you develop is the habit of looking forward 3-5 years and identifying the additional skills and competencies you will need to be to the top of your field at that time.

What are the trends in your industry? What are the skills possessed by the highest paid people in your industry today? Where is your industry going, and what will you have to be absolutely excellent at doing 3-5 years from now if you want to earn an excellent income? These are the key questions that determine the direction of your career.

The Race is on

Peter Drucker writes that, “The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time.” We say that, “Whatever got you to where you are today is not enough to keep you there.” Tom Peters says that, “Whatever you are doing well today, you will have to be doing it vastly better one year from today if you want to keep your current position.” The race is on, and you are in it.

Continually look for ways to add value, to contribute more than you are contributing today. Never forget that you are a “knowledge worker” and the value

of your work is not determined by the hours that you put in, but by the results that you get out.

Make a habit of focusing on the most important and valuable results that you can accomplish in your position. Keep looking forward and identifying the additional skills and abilities that you can develop that will enable you to add more value by getting even better and more important results. This is the way to put yourself on the side of the angels, and to put your career onto the fast track.

  

Look Like A Winner

One of the most important Habits of Millionaire Today you can develop, which can have an inordinate effect on how fast you move onward and upward, has to do with your personal appearance and image. You must develop the habit of dressing like a person who is going somewhere in life.

Human beings are intensely visual. We are inordinately influenced by the external appearance of other people. Some surveys suggest that we form our first impression in the first four seconds of meeting a person, and we finalize our conclusions about that person in the first 30 seconds. After we have made a judgment and come to a conclusion about a person, our mind then strives to justify the decision we have already made. Something quite abrupt or shocking has to occur for us to alter our first impression.

This is the way our minds work. Sometimes people say that, “People should not judge me by the way I look on the outside.” Or others are taken by “don’t Judge the book by its cover”. These are nice ideas, but the fact is that you judge everyone you meet by the way they look on the outside, usually within 30 seconds.

One of the rules for success is that, “Everything counts!” Everything helps or hurts. Everything adds up or takes away. Everything is either moving you toward a goal of your own choosing or is moving you away from that goal. Everything counts! This rule is as applicable in the way you look as in any other area.

In the image that you project, everything counts, as well. If it doesn’t help it hurts. One of the smartest things that you can do is purchase a couple of books on personal image and then select your clothes, your grooming, your make-up and your accessories so that you look like the kind of person who is competent, efficient and trustworthy.

Human beings tend to be incredibly perceptive. And we are very much influenced by the external appearance of a person. By taking the time and effort to dress well and to look the part of a capable person, you open doors for yourself that might otherwise remain closed to you.

What Every Company Wants

Business owners and executives want to be proud of their staff. Many people work hard and do a good job, but are passed over for promotion, year after year, because of their external appearance. They are often overweight and unkempt. Their hair is too long or poorly cared for. Their clothes and accessories are ill fitting do not go with their other clothes. Their shoes are unpolished or mismatched to their clothes or position. As a result, the people around them, especially their superiors, immediately discount their value and ignore their opinions.

Make sure you get a copy of my CD, DVD or book on building Business and sales. In these popular products, I have explained on the importance of positioning and branding in selling a product or service. Both of these concepts are applicable to you personally, and in your work life as well.

Here’s an exercise for you. Imagine taking a picture of yourself as you show up for work in the course of the week. Imagine circulating that picture to others and asking the question, “What kind of a person is this?” How would people who don’t know you describe you by looking at a photograph of you the way that you normally appear at work? Would they say that, “This is an excellent, well organized, high performing individual?” Or would they say something else?

Look at your workspace or desk, your briefcase or car. Ask, “What kind of a person works in an environment or situation like that?” Would an objective third party observer say that, by looking at your work space, that you were a “highly efficient, productive and well organized person?” Or would they say something else?

An Outside Evaluation

Here’s another exercise. Imagine that an outside firm of consultants was to interview all of your coworkers and ask them this question: “What words would

you use to describe that person?” What words do people use to describe you in your absence? Based on their experience with you, with your character and your work habits, how do people talk about you to others when you are not there? How would you like them to talk about you? What words would you like them to use? What words would it be helpful to your career if everybody used them when they described you to others?

Finally, how could you develop the habits of walking, talking, dressing, working and behaving in such a way that others describe you in the most positive and flattering way. Would it be helpful to you if people were to say that, “He/she is extremely competent, efficient, honest, friendly, and helpful and gets things done quickly and well?” How could you change or restructure your appearance and work habits so that, sometime in the future, these are the words that people use when they think and talk about you? What steps could you take immediately to begin creating these works in people’s minds?

Be A Good Team Player

One of the most important habits you can develop in the course of your career is

the habit of working well with other people. Your ability to be a good team player early in your career, and a good team leader later in your career, will do as much to increase your value to your company as any other habit or skill that you can develop.

In times of economic turbulence and large-scale lay-offs, researchers have found that the last people to be let go from any organization are the most popular and helpful people. The people who are kept on the longest, irrespective of economic conditions, are always the ones who are liked the most and who get along with the greatest number of people. Your job is to be one of those people.

Sometimes I ask my audience members, “How many people here work in customer service?” Very few hands go up. I then go on to point out that, “Everyone is in the business of customer service. Everyone is in the business of serving customers, no matter what you do in your organization.”

 

Focus On Customer Service

Develop the habit of seeing everyone around you as a customer of some kind, and simultaneously see yourself as a customer service specialist. A customer can be defined as “Anyone who you depend upon for your success at work, and anyone who depends upon you for their success at work, or in the outside world.”

By this definition, you have several different customers. First, there are your external customers. These are the people who buy and use the product or service that your company produces. Satisfying these people is absolutely indispensable to your success. Those people who are the most vital to serving customers of the company are always the most valuable and appreciated.

You also have another set of customers, within your organization. These are your boss, your coworkers and your subordinates. You depend upon each of these people for your success, and to a certain degree, each of them depends upon you.

The more and better you serve your internal customers, the more productive and valuable you will be to your company.

Your Best Customer

Begin with your boss. He or she is your most important customer. This is because you can fail to satisfy every other customer in your organization, but as long as your boss continues to like and support you; your job will be safe. On the other hand, you can please every other person inside and outside of your organization, but if you do not satisfy your boss, your job will be in jeopardy. Your boss is therefore your number one customer.

Here is an exercise. Draw up a list of everything that you feel that you have been hired to do. Take this list to your boss and ask your boss to organize this list on the basis of his or her priorities. Ask him or her to choose your number one, most important output responsibility. Then have him choose your second most important task, and so on.

Very few people do this with their bosses. The first time you approach your boss with this exercise, he or she will be both flattered and somewhat amused. But if you persist in working through this list of tasks, and organization of priorities, with your boss, you will both emerge from the meeting with a much better understanding of your true priorities at work. From them on, develop the habit of always working on your boss’s number one task. If your boss asks you to do a new job, immediately ask what order of priority the new task has in comparison with the other work that you are doing.

Make it clear that your primary aim is to work on what your boss considers to be the most important and valuable use of your time.

Help Others to Be Effective

If you have a staff of your own, perform the same exercise with them. Have each

of them draw up a list answering the question, “Why am I on the payroll?” Go over these descriptions with each of your staff members and help them to organize their lists by priority. From then on, do everything possible to assure that each of your staff members is working on what you consider to be the most important thing they can be doing to make the most valuable contribution possible to your organization.

Your coworkers are also your customers, because you depend upon them for certain things. You should always be looking for ways to help them do their jobs more effectively. By the Law of Reciprocity, they will then look for ways to help you do your job even better.

In a book on Power and Influence in Organizations written some years ago, the author concluded that power in an organization was based on what he called, “managed dependencies.” This referred to people whom you could influence, but over whom you had no control. They were not dependent upon you for their jobs or their incomes. These were people who were independent of you, but whose help and cooperation you required if you wanted to be successful in your position.

Make up a list of all the people within and without your organization whose assistance, help, cooperation and support you need in order to do your job the very best possible. You should then make a habit of cultivating these people and looking for ways to help them to be more successful in fulfilling their responsibilities as well.

Sowing and Reaping

In “Know who you are “book and CD,(Please get this product if you don’t have a copy by giving me a call or visiting our website, http://kabsyconsultancyservices.wordpress.com we said that the Law of Cause and Effect is the granddaddy law of western philosophy, the iron law of the cosmos. The biblical version of this law is the Law of Sowing and Reaping. This law says that, “Whatsoever you sow, that also shall you reap.” In the world of work, this means that, whatever you put in, or do for others, will eventually come back to you. Note that the Law of Sowing and Reaping has a specific order. First, you sow. Then, you reap. Many people try to reap before they sow, or without sowing at all. But this is not the way the world works.

First, you look for ways to help other people. Then, almost automatically, people will be predisposed to helping you when the time arises. One of the great rules for success is this, “The more you give of yourself without expectation of return, the more that will come back to you from the most unexpected sources.”

Develop the habit of looking for ways to put in more than you get out, to sow more than you reap, to go the extra mile, and to always do more than you are paid to do.

If you always do more than you are currently being paid to do, you will be setting yourself up to be paid more in the future. Look for ways to add value continually.

President of Your Own Company

One of the most important habits you can develop to succeed in your company is

the habit of viewing yourself as self-employed. See yourself as the “President” of your own personal services corporation. Act as if you owned 100% of the shares of the company you work for. Treat the company like it belongs to you, in every respect. By developing the habit of seeing yourself as self-employed, you take complete responsibility for yourself, your company and your career. By taking complete responsibility, and seeing yourself as the President of your own business, you change your personality and your character. Your attitude improves and your actions become more focused, efficient and deliberate.

I see my self as my own boss

In a study done in New York some years ago, they discovered that only 3% of employees see themselves as self-employed. These 3% always seem to be the ones who are paid more and promoted faster. They are the ones who take personal responsibility and personal initiative. They are action oriented in looking for ways to contribute more value to their companies. They seek out additional training experiences to increase the quality and quantity of results that they can get in their jobs.

When you view yourself as the president of your own company, as completely self-responsible for your own job and your own results, you quickly come to the attention of the people who can help you the most. Doors of opportunity will open up for you. You will be promoted to positions of higher responsibility and authority. You will be more respected and esteemed by the important people around you. You will eventually leave everyone else behind.

Be Positive and Cheerful

Perhaps the most helpful decision you can make is to develop the habit of being a

Pleasant, positive person. Refuse to criticize, condemn or complain. Do not engage in gossip or gripe sessions with your coworkers. Imagine that everything that you say at work will be repeated and published on the company bulletin board. Guard your tongue. Instead, look for something good to say about everyone.

Always be cheerful and friendly. Be patient and easy going. Be polite and courteous. Be thoughtful and considerate. Be the kind of person that everyone likes to have working for them, or likes to work for or with.

In our modern business world, it is always the people who are competent, capable, likable and pleasant who are paid the most and promoted the fastest. Make it a habit to look for the good in every person and situation, and to keep focused on helping other people, and adding value to your company. These habits will help you as much or more than anything else you could possibly do.

Action Exercises:

1. Determine what you find easy to learn and easy to do, and what you most enjoy doing at work; find a job doing more of that.

2. Identify your unique talents and abilities, and dedicate yourself to becoming absolutely excellent in those areas.

3. Develop the habit of continually asking for and accepting more responsibility for results, and then move quickly when you get an opportunity to perform.

4. Work all the time you work; when you start earlier, work harder and stay later, you quickly separate yourself from all the others.

5. Focus on satisfying your customers at work, both inside and outside of the company.

6. Develop the habit of working well with others; always be looking for ways to contribute, to help others to do their jobs better and faster.

7. Get the job done fast! The faster you move, the more energy you have, the more you get done, and the faster you will be paid more and promoted to higher levels of responsibility.

“Work is an extension of personality. It is achievement. It is one of the ways in which a person defines himself, measures his worth and his humanity.” (Peter Drucker)

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