Six Steps to Accelerate Your Progress Along the Dynamic Path

1. Maintain a positive attitude - Attitude is the single most important thing that you carry into your job. It is also something over which you have complete control. Be upbeat and optimistic, the kind of person who creates rather than saps energy from other people. Be proactive and take initiative. Don’t be a know-it-all. Listen more than you speak and ask good questions.
2. Work hard - The Dynamic Path reveals that there is no escaping hard work. The top performers in any field, from business to sports to music, work harder than others. As you start a career, get into the office early. Stay late. But don’t work hard just to create face-time. Do so to get more high-quality work done and to practice the skills required for achievement in your work.
3. Deliver on your commitments - Become known as someone who can be counted on to successfully complete whatever task is requested on time and with high quality. Doing so builds trust and confidence. You’ll be surprised at how quickly larger and more significant assignments will flow your way as you develop a reputation for consistent, top-quality work.
4. Perform completed staff work - This is a concept that means going beyond the rote to understand why something is asked for and how it will be used when completed. Completed staff work will be a finished product that can be shared among the department, passed along to your boss’s boss, or used with the client itself. Set this standard for all of your work.
5. Focus on the success of others - Keep focused on the goals of your boss, your team and your company ahead of your own goals. It’s a guaranteed success strategy. You will become in-demand for the most important projects by the most senior people, and you will build a network of supporters across the organization who are pulling for your success.
6. Understand your boss’s motivations - Bosses seek loyalty and good advice for the right reasons. Employees with these characteristics are the ones who will win their trust and confidence. Most people instinctively separate the individuals they manage into three categories: the sycophants, the contrarians, and the small percentage of their employees who are the balanced players. You definitely want to be in the third group. You might be surprised at how influential you can be by becoming known as a source of good ideas, thoughtful perspectives, and creative solutions.

Read more about accelerating your progress along The Dynamic Path in the book by Jim Citrin.