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256    Part 3   •  Organizing
                                              lot of deliberate practice—consistently engaging in repeated activity specifically designed to
                                                improve performance beyond your current comfort and ability level.

                                              Stay Up to Date

                                              In today’s dynamic world, skills can become obsolete quickly. To keep your career on track,
                                              you need to make learning a lifetime commitment. You should be continually “going to
                                              school”—if not taking formal courses, then reading books and journals to ensure that you
                                              don’t get caught with obsolete skills.

                                              Network

                                              Networking refers to creating and maintaining beneficial relationships with others in or-
                                              der to accomplish your goals. It helps to have friends in high places. It also helps to have
                                                contacts who can keep you informed of changes that are going on in your organization and in
                                              your industry. Go to conferences. Maintain contact with former college friends and alumni.
                                              Get involved in community activities. Cultivate a broad set of relationships. And in today’s
                                                increasingly interconnected world, join online business networking groups such as LinkedIn,
                                              Spoke, and Talkbiznow.

                                              Stay Visible

                                              Networking can increase your visibility. So, too, can writing articles in your professional
                                              journals, teaching classes or giving talks in your area of expertise, attending conferences and
                                              professional meetings, and making sure your accomplishments are properly promoted. You
                                              increase your mobility and value in the marketplace by keeping visible.

                                              Seek a Mentor

                                              Employees with mentors are likely to have enhanced mobility, increased knowledge of the
                                              organization’s inside workings, greater access to senior executives, increased satisfaction, and
                                              increased visibility. For women and minorities, having mentors has been shown to be particu-
                                              larly helpful in promoting career advancement and success.


                                              Leverage Your Competitive Advantage
                                              Develop skills that will give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Especially focus
                                              on skills that are important to employers, skills that are scarce, and areas where you have lim-
                                              ited competition. Try to avoid a worst-case scenario: You have a job that anyone can learn in
                                              30 minutes. Remember that the harder it is for you to learn and develop a highly prized skill,
                                              the harder it’ll also be for others to acquire it. Generally speaking, the more training necessary
                                              to do a job and the fewer people who have that training, the greater your security and influence.
                                                  Here’s an insight from many years as a student and a professor: To succeed in school,
                                              you have to be a generalist and excel at everything. For instance, to earn a 4.0 GPA, you need
                                              to be a star in English, math, science, geography, languages, and so on. The “real world,” on
                                              the other hand, rewards specialization. You don’t have to be good at everything. You just need
                                              to be good at something that others aren’t and that society values. You can be lousy in math
                                              or science and still be a very successful opera singer, artist, salesperson, or writer. You don’t
                                              have to excel in English to be a computer programmer or electrician. The secret to life suc-
                                              cess is identifying your comparative advantage and then developing it. And as we’ve noted
                                              previously, you need to invest approximately 10,000 hours in honing your skills to achieve
                                              optimum proficiency.

                                              Don’t Shun Risks
                                              Don’t be afraid to take risks, especially when you’re young and you don’t have much to
                                              lose. Going back to school, moving to a new state or country, or quitting a job to start your
                                              own business can be the decision that will set your life in a completely new direction. Great
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