Young and Employed

“Here are five other counter-intuitive principles I have used to figure out who to listen to when it comes to my own career:

Listen to people who hate you. The interesting thing about taking advice from people who don’t like me is that sometimes, they’ll say things that other people wouldn’t say because it would hurt me.

Stop thinking your issues are especially difficult. The most important piece of self-knowledge is that our problems are not unique.   You don’t need a “career expert.” You don’t have the world’s most sophisticated problems. If you are articulate about framing your problem, most of your friends can give articulate, useful guidance for solving the problem.

Less experience often means better advice. When it comes to finding a mentor, the most effective mentors are 3-5 years ahead of you in the workplace. Those are the people who have the best memory of what it was like to be where you are.  The rules are changing so quickly, that many times someone who has a lot more experience than you do will also be out of touch with what the workplace is like today.

Be wary of people whose lives look perfect. Happiness researchers have known for a long time that if you ask people directly if they are happy in their career, most of the time they’ll lie.  Many people hide their lives – they want you to think things are going perfectly, and they’re always making great decisions, so they don’t tell you the parts that are a mess. But sometimes, you come across people who are willing to show you the messy parts, and you can learn the most from these people.

Stick with people who give you bad advice. If you’re getting advice from someone who has never steered you wrong, then you’re not asking this person enough questions. After a  while, someone who has given you a lot of advice will falter. Because no one is perfect, and no one can do as well at running your life as you can. So if you find someone who is giving good advice, push harder, until you get to their limit.”

As great as Penelope’s article is, I would like to add one more Career advisor to your list:

History. As Penelope explained, our problems are not as unique as we believe they are, and they are not as new and innovative either.  Yes, maybe you are tying to figure out the best way to use your email as a marketing tool, or twitter or something else that seems to be new, but chances are, someone else already struggled with it.  This morning, I listened to a politician talking about Afghanistan and quoted Alexander the Great.  If he can look back into History, so should you.

Penelope Trunk’s Blog

-Frank