Wanted

MAKE

SACRIFICES

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162

wa nte d

The pleasure always comes last. The pain

comes first

Ask yourself, ‘What am I prepared to sacrifice to

protect my job and take my career further forward?’

(NB Never sacrifice safety, hygiene or morality.) The

pleasures you give up are your ‘sacrifice’.

Little can be achieved in life without

sacrificing something pleasurable.

Marathon athletes make considerable

sacrifices to achieve their ambition.

Instead of lying in bed they take long

runs. This is synonymous with long-

term career progression. The pain is

always front-end loaded with the benefit attained on comple-

tion. It can never be the other way round.

To become wanted by any organisation you have to do more

than your competitors. This means sacrificing the television and

many of the comforts indulged in at home. It might even mean

less time with your family.

Inevitably this brings serious conflicts along the scale of the

now fashionable ‘work–life balance’. The harsh reality of life is

that those who make sacrifices and work harder than the rest

will triumph over those who relapse into comfort zones and put

in fewer hours.

No matter how much you try you cannot progress your career on

a 35-hour working week. The trick, as stated in Chapter 1, is to

fall in love with your work such that it is fun and you are pre-

pared to sacrifice other indulgences in favour of dedicating

extra hours working hard at things you love doing. Gardening

There is no gain

without personal

sacrifice

163

Make Sacrifices

might be hard work, but those who love it are prepared to under-

take the arduous tasks of weeding and pruning in order to

achieve immense beauty.

When it comes to those critical moments in your career, when

prospective employers have to make choices, their inclination

will always be to select candidates who have made sacrifices to

be where they are. It’s called ‘putting yourself out for the com-

pany’ and is the reverse of the ‘9–5’ mentality.

Whether you are an ambitious 18-year-old

student or a 50-year-old just made redundant

you will need to face the reality that sacrifices

have to be made in pursuit of your long-term

career goals. It might mean earning less to

begin with, or putting in extra hours of study,

or living away from your family for an

extended period. Nothing is easy in life – and

people who believe otherwise delude them-

selves. Be prepared to make sacrifices if you

want to progress your career.

PRA C T I CA L TI P S

G

Watching a lot of television will do you little good. Sacrifice

viewing and spend the time more productively in pursuit of

your career goals.

G

Be prepared to be lonely as you travel towards your

career goals.

G

Do not make a large salary your highest priority. There

might be more noble objectives in becoming ‘wanted’.

G

Think twice before choosing the easiest and most

comfortable option.

qu e st i on

What are you

prepared to

give up to

achieve your

career goals?