I started my career working in a top-tier investment bank in London and then spent 10 years working for different organizations. During that time, I had access to some of the most amazing mentors, I spoke with hundreds of senior managing directors, and had conversations with CEOs who had successfully navigated corporate life for decades. So in this video, I wanted to highlight some of the most common career mistakes that people make and share habits that can help you stand out and accelerate your growth in your career.
The first mistake is building a career around a paycheck. or a title. I learned this the hard way. Sometimes we get so fixated on the title of a job or the pay that it offers that we build our entire careers around those two things without pausing to consider the day-to-day realities of the job and whether we truly enjoy those tasks.
And this kind of happened to me and I know so many other people also in a similar situation. I went into banking because it sounded good. Everyone around me or in my circle seemed to want to do it and it seemed like it was a good career option. But then as I climbed the ladder and spent more and more years in banking, I realized that something was missing. And 10 years later, I found myself pretty much at a career dead end wondering, where's the growth from here?
What's next for me? Why am I not feeling fulfilled? And I know I'm not alone in this. So many people get caught up in this allure of dream job or title without considering whether the actual work aligns with their values and brings them fulfillment or sparks curiosity or helps them build their passion. There's so much research and studies that show your success in a career comes down to your happiness in that job.
And so if you want to be successful and you want to accelerate in your career and not burn out, it's so important to consider that there's two aspects of it. The first is the practical side, which is the bit that is optimized for pay. It's the bit that covers your bills. And the second side is where you can build your curiosity and your passion. One of the things that I didn't do often, which I would always recommend other people to do, is constantly ask yourself, how can I weave my passion into my day job?
that makes all of these daily tasks a little bit more enjoyable. So that it's not just about the paycheck anymore, but more of a reflection of who I am and what I stand for. And it may be that your job doesn't allow you to build on your passion, but it pays you well and it gives you the financial resources to build your passion in the evenings or on the side. But by striking a balance between the practical considerations and your personal passions, you will find happiness or some sort of meaning in your job.
The second mistake is not aligning yourself to the growth of your company. One of the best pieces of advice I got from one of my mentors was to always align yourself with where the company is growing. So it could be a specific product or a team that's generating the most revenue. It could be an AI part of the company.
It could be technology. It could be social media. It's the growth area in a company that tends to attract the most opportunities, the most funding, the most investment, the most support. It's where the most opportunities are.
I remember when I joined the first company that I worked at, there was a huge focus on attracting and retaining. more junior talent within the bank. The bank was looking for more ways to try and keep junior talent in the organization for longer because they tend to be quite a big turnover at that point.
And it was something that they had a huge amount of focus on. And this was completely, or this topic was completely outside of my day job. It was nothing to do with my role, but it was an area that was growing in the company that there was a lot of focus on and that I knew I'd be interested in. And I also knew I'd be good at.
So I had to find a way to get involved. I started a committee and the slogan was to empower and inspire juniors across the bank. And we were organizing events, lunch and learn sessions.
We were connecting juniors with senior mentors across the bank. And we were just showing new graduates what the bank had to offer. And it was a huge win for the company, but also such a pivotal moment in my personal growth because the people I met through organizing this opened up so many doors for me further down my career because it was such a high visibility project. So always think of how you can combine your strengths with an area in your company that is growing because I guarantee you. it will be a win for the company and a win for your personal growth.
So always be on the lookout for what's growing in your company. Is it social media? Is it new product development?
Whatever it is, find a way to contribute to it, even if it's not directly related to your job description. Because by doing this, you're not just earning a paycheck anymore, you're building something bigger and you're creating a win-win situation for both you and your company. The third mistake is working silently.
We had this internship program at the bank where we would have about 10 interns do an eight-week internship. And at the end of... that internship, three or four of them would get a full-time position. And I was quite involved in the hiring process and deciding who got the full-time role.
And I noticed a really interesting pattern between those who secured the full-time position and those who didn't. And contrary to what you might think, it wasn't at all the smartest people who always got the job. It wasn't the interns who could crunch numbers the fastest or create a financial model in their sleep. While those skills definitely had a place and they are undoubtedly valuable.
They weren't the deciding factors in who received the full-time offer. Time and time again, it was the people who were really good at communicating. They often articulated what they were working on and made sure everyone knew about it.
They shared their progress, but more importantly, they found ways to highlight their achievements in line with the company's growth and the team's overall goals. Technical skills are not the be-all and end-all of career success. As you progress in your career, especially the ability to articulate your value, collaborate with other people.
and showcase your contributions becomes increasingly more important. Those are the soft skills that can really make you stand out in a competitive workplace. And even as I progressed in my career, the people who are always getting the first promotions were the people who communicated proactively. They regularly updated the team and the superiors on their progress.
It doesn't mean bombarding them with unnecessary information, but they were providing them with concise, meaningful updates. They were the ones seeking visibility opportunities. They were volunteering for presentations where they were leading projects and they were able to communicate their achievements.
in a way that highlighted their impact on their company's goals. And they embraced feedback. They actively seeked feedback from their colleagues.
And more importantly, they acted on it. So while there is a time and place to be really good at your job, the other half of the equation in being successful in your career is letting people know about the work that you're doing. And the fourth biggest mistake is over-relying on just one income stream. When we're used to having a steady paycheck come in every month, it is so easy to feel comfortable and becoming over-reliant on that single source of income. or that single person.
And that mindset can lead to a level of complacency. But throughout my career, I've had constant reminders of how quickly things can change. I've seen colleagues in my team and close to me lose their jobs unexpectedly, whether it's due to their role no longer being needed, budget cuts, or simply being replaced by someone cheaper. And these experiences made me realize just how vulnerable we can be when we depend on just one source of income.
And this vulnerability is highlighted by the data the Federal Reserve found that almost 40% of Americans would struggle to even cover a surprise $400 expense. That's nearly half of the population living on the edge with little financial cushion. So how do we avoid this trap and set ourselves up for long-term success?
It's all about diversifying. Think of it like not putting all of your eggs in one basket. And here are three things that I did whilst I was working in a job just to make sure I was covered no matter what the situation or what circumstance life threw at me. Number one, the pay yourself first strategy. I started by investing 10 to 20% of my take-home pay into firstly high interest savings accounts and then into other investments like the stock market, into real estate.
That was like giving my future self a raise. Secondly, the side hustle approach. Learn a secondary skill and then start a business where you offer that skill as a product or a service. Or three, the leverage what you know technique. which is another thing that I did.
Take the skills from your day job and use it to build something of your own on the side. If you're good at what you do there's probably someone else willing to pay for your expertise. What this does it builds your nest egg in a way that is protected from the instability of your 95 and better yet if you use this supplemental income to further save and to further invest you can get to financial freedom a lot quicker.
One of the most important skills that I believe everyone should have to accelerate their career is curiosity. Being a constant learner is something everyone needs to accelerate their career. And that is where I'd like to introduce today's sponsor, which is Brilliant.
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Thanks so much and see you there.