Thought this might be a fun topic to discuss - What is the best piece of work or career advice you’ve ever received?
Work to live, never live to work.
do the job you were hired to do, nothing else, favors turn into full time responsibility and additional work quickly. That favor will be slow to be paid back...if ever.
every graveyard in the country is stacked full deep and high full of ‘hard workers’. If you are hired as a painter and decorator do your job, that job efficiently, effectively and well.. as efficiently and as well as you can with the resources they give you.... if the van you have been provided with breaks down... no matter what time you get to the job... you finish on time... don’t sacrifice your wellbeing, personal, health and family wellbeing because your employer can’t deliver their end of an agreement..
I suppose "don't let the companies problems become your problems" is one that I have seen more and more as I go through my working life.
Some companies and managers are very good at putting the guilt on employees to get certain things done, getting extra work out of people, working weekends and doing two jobs at once etc. Usually it's good employees who suffer in these situations.
Nobody is irreplaceable is my one.
I've done the crazy hours, and certainly I got thanks for it, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t do it again. It’s not worth it when you realise that you’ve plowed years into your job at the expense of your own real life because you think everything will break down if you don’t. It won’t!!
Also related is - learn to delegate! Probably one of the things I found most difficult to do.
Learn to say no!
If you show up and do your job you are ahead of half of your competition
"if you were hit by a bus tomorrow someone would be in your job next month"
Be 50% a good worker and 50% a good coworker
Nobody is indispensable. No matter who they are, they can be replaced. So don't try to make yourself indispensable by taking on extra work.
Keep your mouth shut. Your colleagues aren't your friends. Don't make enemies if you can avoid it. All obvious stuff.
In a corporate setting, social weight counts for more than skill/ hard work so either be charming or be quiet and inoffensive.
Live below your means if you can, to reduce your dependence on employers.
If you're negotiating pay or something else, you need to start a soft auction i.e. "This other company has just offered me €5,000 more". The other company could be imaginary. I'm not telling you to lie though - it's better to line up real offers and play them one against another.
If you don't ask you don't get.
Applies to promotions, rises, perks, nicer roles.....
Obviously to be used sensibly
Be on time
Take your time
Leave on time
Remember, your colleagues are not your friends.
Don't go into catering.
From my father a chef
Brevity and Clarity in all things.
Treat your employees well and most of the time, things will take care of themselves. Be a leader and empower your employees to make decisions rather than having to run to you every time. A lot of people thrive when given responsibility.
And if that person was driving the bus it probably wasn't an accident!
If you have to have a difficult conversation with a peer or subordinate, don't sit between them and the door
Best pieces of advice I got were:
1) Be an average worker, do what's needed and nothing more. Its impossible for work to fire you.
2) Work life balance is more important than money. In the door at 9AM and out by 5PM. If you can't get this move job.
Don’t work
Not necessarily work related but:
"If you want to get smarter, don't be the smartest in the room"
your just a mean to an end . just a number. they dont care about you any more than they have to . once you stop making them money they will drop you.
everyone is replacable and you will be replaced sooner or later.
Everyone lies.
Nonsense
Don't be loyal to an organisation be loyal to a person.
Don't break your balls making someone else rich.
The biggest bullsh*tters and biggest whiners are looked after, the ones that get on with things are just expected to keep doing it.
Yes I am cynical, but then again I have come across some absolute sh** managers and company owners in SMEs in Ireland that would walk over your corpse if it suited them.
I work in construction design and one that stuck with me is "a person who never made a mistake never made anything".
What if you work in the public sector and don't make money for your employer?
Never work directly alongside the person paying your wages. You will earn every cent
Take a role where the person/company paying your wages is based in a different country
Never work for an Irishman.
An Irishman will expect you to do what he wouldn't do himself, an Englishman will only expect you to do what he would do himself.
You're colleagues are not your friends. People's only true friend at work is their pay cheque
Nope, but be careful of people who make such a claim....
Honesty is the road to poverty
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