To Be Successful in Your Life & Career Get to Know This Important Person

Success in your career depends on many factors but one factor that is underappreciated is the need to get to know an important person in your life. Your knowledge of this person will help you gain some clarity, focus, and direction in your career.

So, you might be wondering, just who is this important person you should get to know? Perhaps it’s the CEO of your company? Or the Human Resources Director?  

It’s a good idea to know the decision makers in your company but the person you need to know before all others is yourself.

When you have a clear sense of who are, the strengths and skills you possess, and your interests and mission in life, you’ll have the ability to make focused and healthy career decisions for you and your family.

To get a better understanding of yourself consider the following.

Check out the Myers-Briggs test. The Myer-Briggs Type Inventory (or MBTI) is a popular test that provides you with some information about your personality. The results of the test will place you in one of sixteen personality types that can help you better understand yourself, how you interact with others and perceive the world, and provide some insight to help you communicate more effectively with other personality types. There are also versions of the test you can take online.

Take a skills assessment. You can find many tests to assess your skills and these can be beneficial to help you better understand what it is that you are already good at and how you might apply those skills to a career. Many tests will link up your skills with relevant jobs and this can be a great way to consider a job or career you hadn’t thought of before.

Meet with a therapist. Sometimes meeting with a therapist one on one can be the best way to come to a better understanding of ourselves and to figure out what is holding us back from success in our life and career. We might carry with us negative patterns of behavior or thought that we don’t even realize and a good therapist can help us work through these issues.

Ask for feedback. We often have people in our lives who know us well: a spouse or partner, good friends, family, a boss. Take the initiative and be courageous and ask for some feedback about your strengths and weaknesses. The more specific the feedback is the more helpful it will be for you.

Get a mentor. A good mentor can support you in many ways, including providing knowledge and wisdom gained from their experience, providing you access to their network, and encouraging you to persevere. Mentors can provide you with a better understanding of who you are and which direction to head in your career.

When you gain a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses you can become more effective at surrounding yourself with the resources you need to be successful in your career and in life.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: The No. 1 Characteristic of Extraordinary Leaders

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from Inc., Marco Zappacosta discusses the most important characteristic of extraordinary leaders.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Courting a New Career and Pickup Lines for Job Seekers

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

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• How to Court a New Career: "Recruiters see hundreds of applications, so stand out from the crowd and show your best assets from the off. Relevant sector experience is crucial, but it doesn't hurt to show a little personality."


• Replace Your Bad Leadership Habits: "Instead of trying to keep all the interesting knowledge to yourself, leaders should start giving away as much as possible to their employees while seeking out new information."


• 5 Ways to Become More Self-Aware: "In the end, we all want self-awareness. Without it, one can never fully lead effectively. It’s only with self-awareness that one can journey closer to a state of 'self-congruence' — in which what we say, think, and feel are consistent."


• 5 Pickup Lines for job Seekers: "You can acknowledge a company’s reputation as a leader in its field, its corporate philanthropy, the well-known quality or performance of its marquee products, or anything else that is distinctive about the employer."


• What Hiring Managers Want to Know About You: "There is always some context that you're being hired into, and it's in the hiring manager's best interest to make sure you will be a good fit and can hit the ground running."