Habits for Sustained Success
This is Joyce’s Newsletter, a newsletter about Venture Capital, Emerging Technologies and Trends, and Leadership.
No matter where we are in your career or life, what habits can guide us as we evolve in various chapters of our lives? No matter what major change or adversity is in front us, what habits can guide us through them? Succeeding from an early career hire to becoming a more experienced / lateral hire. Succeeding from one functional area to another - a complete pivot. Succeeding when getting more responsibilities. Succeeding when sorting out the next step after being laid off and needing to find a new lane. Succeeding in de-biasing the other side when you believe that there is a perception or bias working against you. Succeeding in your role. Succeeding as in being a good manager.
Here are the top habits for sustained success:
Be curious and constantly learn.
Invest in your education. Invest in learning form others. Invest in learning by reading. Invest in checking things out/building something. There are many transferrable skills that people may not realize that they have. Your curiosity can turn into a new skill which you can use to parlay into something interesting.
Be open minded and flexible.
The world is changing fast. Opportunities are everywhere. Open mindedness helps with broader aperture to truly see and capture opportunities. Actually, in this world, open mindedness is a requirement to create long-term success.
Consciously check your biases.
Everyone has biases. Whether it is confirmation bias, status quo bias, availability bias, affinity bias or others, they exist. If we check our biases, we are able to identify new talents, new opportunities, communicate better, and ultimately achieve better outcomes.
Be respectful.
Treat others the way you want to be treated. Period.
Be transparent.
Transparency creates trust. Trust is a valuable currency that can help create long-term value.
Set small and big goals.
Be clear about your true north and priorities in personal and professional life at any given time. Don't be discouraged if you don't meet every goal. Progress and progressing are the more important.
Always try to be a better communicator.
The most successful people are excellent communicators.
Pay it forward.
Proactively help someone to advance in life and career because it is incredibly rewarding when that person becomes successful. Someday, you may desire the same kind of support.