When you are working on getting established in a career, there are many things that are unknown or, frankly, intimidating. I can still recall the feelings of uneasiness as I began my own career. Over the years, I have learned many lessons. Some of them would have been great to know when starting out. Here are five career lessons I would tell my younger self. 

Career Lesson #1: Everyone Is Trying to Figure It Out

When you are younger, so many of your friends and colleagues seem completely put together. It seems as if they have everything sorted out and clear pathways planned out. For a young professional, this can be very frustrating. After all, while my friends seemed to have it sorted out, I had no clue what I was doing. 

The reality is that everyone is trying to figure it out as well. We all put our best image forward and work to hide our insecurities. This means we come off as seeming like we are organized and know what we want, even though we are really all going through the same things.

Career Lesson #2: It’s OK to Take a Break

When I was younger, I felt like taking a break was something reserved for retirement. After all, I wanted to demonstrate my work ethic and work on my career. This led to me spending a ton of time at my job. However, the reality is that taking a break is ok and the work will always be there. 

In fact, taking a break can even be energizing. Rest and relaxation are beneficial for helping stimulate things such as creativity and problem solving as well as essential for a balanced life. My younger self could have definitely improved work-life balance. 

Career Lesson #3: Introverts Can Succeed

When I was growing up, it seemed as if everyone focused on extroverts as being the hot commodity to succeed in careers. After all, extroverts easily built relationships with others and network. As an introvert, I felt like I had an inherent disadvantage. 

In reality, introverts can be quite successful without having to change themselves. I have my own strengths including being idea-oriented, disciplined, and able to make good decisions by taking in lots of data. It’s all about combining your strengths with your preferred style. 

Career Lesson #4: Getting Hired is All About Articulation

When I went into interviews as a young professional, I knew that I had good skills and expected to easily find a job. However, what I learned is that skills and talent do not get you hired; being able to articulate them does. 

Over the years, I improved in these areas. I learned to highlight my skills through storytelling. Today, I am quite good at interviewing but that younger version of me had a lot of ground to cover in order to develop in this area.

Career Lesson #5: Hard Work Alone Is Not Enough

Lots of people work hard. In fact, I would say that most people work fairly hard at their jobs. There is the old adage that hard work will get you ahead, but this just is not true. It can be difficult for people to notice you just for working hard. 

After all, the people who you’d like to notice you are busy with their own roles. To truly get noticed, you have to make yourself visible. This means relationship building and being strategic with taking on projects that are valuable to the organization.

Conclusion

Our careers are lifelong journeys. There will be times to accelerate, slow down, pivot or stop entirely. As long as we are learning, we are succeeding.

What career lessons would tell your younger self?