Youre never ready for doing great things until you eliminate all of the B.S. thatsreallyholding you back.

Yeah, you heard me.

Take this from someone who pissed away countless career opportunities for advancement during his 20s. So, what do I mean?

After college, I scuttled around in jobs for three years with no real compass of what I wanted to do. Do I regret it? Yes, largely because even though I was doing some things well, I was doing many things poorly. I slept in. Id show up late to work. I did the bare-minimum. I partied too hard. And it showed.

I wasnt putting in the time that even though no one actually words it like this isrequiredfor succeeding. I was wasting time.

Here are some examples:

Look Im not here to lecture you on how never to have fun. Far from it. I had my share, and I encourage you to do the same. Just try and use your time more to your advantage. Dont sacrifice all of it to the gods of no return. Invest. Find your fun in the enjoyment and fulfillment of doing things that add value to your life and have lasting impact. As Richard Branson is fond of saying,

Fun is one of the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture. If youre not having fun, then its probably time to call it quits and try something else.

The thing about finding your way in life and business is that so many people think rather intuitively, I might add that its all about playing offense. In other words just focus on the high-growth and value activities and youll be set. Sure. You can go and do that. But what about when you negate those things by taking steps backward?

What about when you dont apply consistency to the value-add activities like journaling, reading and gaining new skills, and delivering work that exceeds expectations? Well, then people start to wonder.

Who is this woman?

Whats up with this guy?

One day hes on his game, the next its like hes not even there.

Im a huge proponent of playingdefense. If you dont yet know what that means, allow me to explain:

Defense is how you protect and shield your valuable time from all of the time-wasters and negative things that threaten to derail you. This means that you have a keen self-awareness for knowing what is good for you and what isnt.

So, how do you know it? Look at the times where you havent gotten the results that you wanted. Was it because you didnt try hard enough? Was it because you didnt have all the answers?

Or was it because you didnt mitigate enough of the things that hold you back? I can tell you with clear eyes, every time I havent achieved success, its almost always come down to poor time management or a lack of discipline. When you gain mastery in these areas through planning, structure and focused work you find your breakthroughs.

Playing defense is what smart, productive people do. Its how successful millennials like Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were able to co-found Instagram and transform the social media landscape.

They eliminated time-wasters. They focused on ways to refine and improve the quality of their products. And in doing so, theyve completely reinvented the way we communicate with one another.

Playing defense is wise, and yet not everyone does it. It takes discipline. This means focusing on several areas that can really affect you if youre not self-aware and good at self-managing:

So, are you ready to play defense?

If you are, set up a list of high-value activities, and then a list of things that will take away from you spending time on those activities. Put your goals together and watch yourself flourish as you emphasize the offense, and stand-up with authority to play defense.

As you look at your day and week what are you willing to cut out? Making the turn of owning your career begins with cutting out the B.S., and removing barriers. This helps you gain clarity and renewed energy and optimism that power you forward toward building the life and career you desire most.

This article first appeared on Medium.

See original here:
How to know when you're ready to own your career - Ladders