My Ten Biggest Career Lessons So Far

I thought I'd share what I think are the biggest lessons I've picked up in my career so far in the hope they might help others. It would be great to hear some of your own tips!

So, in no particular order:

1- Treat 'Triumph and Disaster' the same

This advice comes from my favourite poem.

In my career I've had lots of moments when I feel I've achieved something and also lots of other moments when something has gone wrong. I've learned that it helps to use neither to define who you can are or what you can achieve. There are days when you won't put in much effort and everything good will fall in your lap. There are other days when you will try your hardest and nothing will go right. That's just life.

2- Don’t be afraid to tread a lonely path

In some ways this is an easy one for me to live up to. I come from a loving home and I was born in a wealthy country. Even so, I feel that there have been certain key points that I have taken the less obvious path in my career (actually that reminds me of another famous poem I like!).

This is something that I think I did from a reasonably early age. For example, I was the only person from my primary school to go to my secondary school and I was the first person in my family to go to university (and that university was Cambridge, which made it in some ways a singular experience).

Throughout my career I haven't been afraid to try something new and to go somewhere that (for me) was a bit scary or new.

How can you step out of your comfort zone and do something different?

3- Find excuses to be nosy/talk to anyone

The lesson that I think I most wish I learned even earlier in my career is the idea of giving yourself the excuse to be nosy.

What I mean by this is that if you can give yourself a legitimate excuse to meet lots of interesting people you are bound to discover so much more.

I found this when I was living in London and became a Trustee of a local charity, at a relatively young age. Not only did being a Trustee instantly put me into a new group of connections, but I subsequently set up an organisation called Young Charity Trustees to campaign on the issue of Board Diversity (the organisation has closed but I now support the amazing Young Trustees Movement).

Young Charity Trustees gave me the excuse to speak to many of the people I most admired across the charity sector and beyond. Now, I'm sure that all sorts of kind people might have met with me even if I hadn't started that organisation, but it gave me the base to easily start a conversation that a lot of people were interested in.

4- Have curiosity and go on adventures

By my mid-20s I had been on a variety of adventures, including helping to run a voluntary teaching programme in Romania and spending two years on the JET Programme in Japan. Living in another country made a difference to my development in a way I personally would have found hard to replicate elsewhere. It helped me to see the world through different eyes and understand that the way I had been doing things was only one way to do things- a valuable lesson.

After getting married my wife and I have lived in a number of countries as digital nomads, a new way of living and working that wasn't possible even a few decades ago. If you are interested you can see our LinkedIn group here and I'll be speaking at this digital nomad conference later in the year.

Note that of course having an adventure doesn't mean having to go to a different country. Being curious about the world and your place in it means that life can be interesting wherever you are. I find even really simple things like walking a different route through a familiar city makes a difference.

5- Never stop learning

I have never been a person who thought that learning stopped when I left school or university.

For example, during lockdown this year I completed a short philosophy course online- I've wanted to do some sort of course in philosophy for very many years.

The world of work is changing so fast that you can't stand still. My love of learning new things is something that continues to help me.

Also, if you have been learning something that you think might be useful to others, why not share it? For example, if you enter an industry and there are resources that you wish you had- maybe at some point you will create them. For example, when I joined the charity sector I was at a small charity and I wish that I had been able to network with others. So when I felt a bit more established, I set up a group to encourage people to join the sector.

6- Adapt and grow

The world isn't standing still and you can't either.

As well as the point about always learning that I made above, you also need to think more generally about how the world of work is changing.

I feel I've managed to do that a little bit by moving between different sectors and I also try to listen out about work trends and think how my own career will cope. Change is always on the horizon- how will you react?

7- Do things that excite you

When you look back at your career, what are the things that will really excite you?

I've done a few things that don't really relate to the career path I'm on now but which were an amazing experience and something I'm very proud that I tried.

For example, I studied politics at University and early in my career I was an intern for two members of Parliament in the UK. Being able to actually work in Parliament, especially when some parts of the Parliamentary Estate are so historic, was an amazing privilege. Whatever else I go on to do, I'll never regret having spent that time fulfilling one of my passions and I gained confidence and picked up transferable skills: including the fact that before I was an intern I was scared of answering the telephone and it helped me combat that fear!

Work takes up so much of most people's lives that, if you can, you may well as do something that excites you in some way. What it is, is entirely up to you. One of my favourite things professionally is meeting people who are involved in jobs that I have no personal connection to or aptitude for- and seeing their passion for it shine through. They really bring alive for me why it matters and why it is something they want to be involved with.

8- Learn from people you know (and don’t)

One of my biggest career inspirations is learning from other people.

Whether it is people I know personally and whose work I admire like Robbie, Noam or John - or people I have learned so much from but never met, like the late Anthony Bourdain, or Alain de Botton, there are people whose work and whose own career journey inspires me again and again.

Taking the time to look out for people who inspire you, whether they are in your industry or not, makes such a difference.

9- Take the time to reflect

One of the biggest things I've tried to do more in recent years is to be more 'in the moment'. My head is often full of things, so I'm not naturally the best at this!

Taking the time out of your busy schedule- whether it is simply getting out of the house for a walk, having a cup of coffee and time away from your computer, or, if possible, a longer period to let your mind relax, can really help.

If you need a bit of a nudge, as I do, it is good to find tools that can help you- for example my wife has created a brilliant journal that supports me and others in this area.

10- Be less hard on yourself

There is a difficult balance to strike between being ambitious- and being too hard on yourself- and finding that sweet spot for your own career is a difficult but crucial task.

Everyone is going to make mistakes- I make so many still. Not only is it part of being human, but if you aren't making mistakes, you probably aren't growing and trying new things. So try not to blame yourself if things go wrong.

I hope these tips were useful and I'd love to hear your own!

Alex Swallow is The Influence Expert and author of 'How To Become An Influencer'. A free copy of the book and many tips about growing your influence can be found at www.theinfluenceexpert.com. You can join his online course, 'How To Network' free here. You can also see his viral LinkedIn post '100 LinkedIn Articles- Key Lessons' here.