How can you set yourself up for career success? Author Deborah Shane outlines the four P's that lead to success.
“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)When I think about how people describe me, more often than not, the word “perseverance” tops the list. I have instinctively known in life when you want something, you have to work at it and for it. Even as a young person, I set my sights on what I thought was the bull’s eye and kept shooting for it. Over time, I have learned many lessons and gained much wisdom about how to stick to things, and, more importantly, how and what I needed to do to set myself up for what I like to call the “long race.” Long-distance runners train differently from sprinters. They focus on endurance and pace. In life and business, we need to train as long-distance runners, not sprinters. Our lives play out much better when we prepare for a marathon. I like the metaphor of perseverance being a strengthening of one’s abilities to finish the race by developing a pace-driven process. To truly perform our best, we must prepare for success like we’re running a marathon. The training plan of all long-distance runners includes coaching, technique, practice, and endurance. Long-distance runners all train for the second half of the race. As business people who want to be around for a long time, we too must develop a resilience that strengthens our ability to persevere beyond the first half of our marathon. Here are some four fundamentals that may help you manage the challenging parts of your career journey.
