Six Ways to Make the Most of Your Career

Here's a money piece from Yahoo written by Ben Stein. In it, he agrees with me that your career is your most valuable financial asset, offering you many financial benefits. (BTW, you can make the most of it by getting a college degree and managing your career to its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime.) Ben's words:

For most of us, our main earning asset is our selves. We make much more from our labor than from our investments unless we're in a super rarefied stratum. If we work smart, operate with an eye on what works, we get ahead and make a decent livelihood.

Yep, that's what I said. ;-)

He then suggests six ways to make the most of your career/earnings including:

• Learn a Useful Skill
• Make Yourself Invaluable
• To Serve Is to Rule
• There Is No Quitting Time
• Connections Are Everything
• There's No Such Thing as Being Too Likeable

In my (almost) 20-year career in business, I've found that #2, #4 and #5 are very, very important. If you can produce business results (and the more, the better -- especially when compared to co-workers), work hard -- putting in the time necessary to over-perform expectations, and develop relationships with superiors, co-workers, other business people and the like, you'll go far in your career. And, as a result, your career will reward you financially for doing so. ;-)

For more on careers, see these posts from Free Money Finance:

• 10 Best-Paying Jobs for Associate Degrees

• 10 Ways to Get a Promotion

• The Art of the Raise

Comments

[GHoosdum]

I really take issue with #4: "There Is No Quitting Time"

Why? Well, I work in a company where the management seems to think that our sole purpose in life is to work for this company. Because of this, they don't see anything amiss with keeping employees at work until 7 or 8 PM. I don't mind putting in extra time once in a while, but to see it as a daily requirement from management is galling. To me, this is not a worthwhile tradeoff.

It all comes down to the root of why we're making the money in the first place. My focus on money comes from a desire to be comfortable in life, and secure my family's future. Ultimately, it's not very comfortable to work all evening every day, nor will my family have much future if I'm spending all my time at work rather than spending time with family. Personally, I value my family over my work, and if that means I'll suffer in my career in the long run, then so be it: my reasons for working are for myself and my family, at the root - not so that I can be a career powerhouse.