Career Chic: Tips for becoming and staying successful

(Photo: Glitter Guide)

1. Relationships matter.

Try to make it a point to develop a relationship with everyone if your office, even if they aren’t on your team. Go to where other teams sit from time to time and ask how their day was or what they are working on. Some of the most successful people don’t have the most unique or impressive skills, but they genuinely care about people. And regardless of their rank or position, they are friendly and interested.

If you are nervous about starting conversations, just ask questions! People love to talk, especially about things that interest them. So let them do the talking, find out what you have in common and remember to maintain those relationships with regular conversation.

2. Set yourself apart by becoming an expert on something.

Standing out can be hard in any office no matter how big or how small. But when you are known as the expert on something whether it be on twitter engagement, or economic issues or even something quirky like training for an Iron Man, be an expert and you will instantly give yourself something to be remembered by.

3. Find meaning.

Sometimes we find ourselves at a stage in our career where we are not where we want to be. Maybe you are a writer but you frequently have to ghost write at work, maybe you are an intern for the forth time because you switched career paths too often, maybe you wanted to be in fashion but you somehow ended up in marketing.

Perhaps you aren’t happy with your role or there are 10 people breathing down your neck and critiquing your every move.

Whatever the case, it is important to find meaning in your work. You not may love your role, or the office drama, you may even hate that you aren’t in your field of choice but just remember that they hired you for a reason, and that means something. What you do is important to who you do it for, important enough to pay you for it. So find the meaning in that and do it well because of that meaning. You won’t be stuck forever, the point is to make the most of where you are.

4. Take your boss to lunch and pick her/his brain.

Every successful person I’ve ever met had a mentor. They had someone to guide them and give them perspective on making the right choices. Chances are there is some really cool, successful person at your job who would be really flattered that you are asking them for advice.

Don’t be intimated. They have been where you are before and someone took the time to mentor them so they usually are happy to pay it forward.

Send them an invite and remember they are probably really busy so leave it up to them to tell you when they are free.  Once you make it happen, remember to bring a notebook and pay for their coffee, food, drink..etc. They will appreciate it and more importantly, they will remember you because most people are too shy to get to know their boss.

I once bought Tucker Carlson coffee and he was one of the nicest, most interesting people I’ve ever met.

So pick your boss’s brain! I bet they have some stories to tell.

5. Send hand-written “thank you” notes.

After I leave every job or internship I’ve had, I sent a “thank you” note or a Christmas card or I make some other gesture of appreciation. It is important  to take the time in life to say thank you. Gratitude is the ultimate precursor to abundance. Plus it’s a great excuse to buy pretty stationary!