 11 Essential Success Habits By William NORMANTON Alexander KRITSKIY |
Despite being well educated, many Russians and Ukrainians have found it difficult to adapt to life in a competitive, free-market economy. Even young people who may not remember much about life in the Soviet Union have had difficulty learning to live in a society where government played a major role in directing individual destinies.
Most Westerners have learned to organize their own lives, educations, jobs and ultimately their own futures. For a variety of reasons, young Ukrainians and Russians have found it difficult to develop some of these basic habits and skills so necessary to personal success, and to introduce them into their lives. Most people in the West understand these habits and skills. They have become so ingrained in Western culture that most understand from an early age that self-organization is essential.
Though authoritarian systems made people keep their thoughts to themselves, you learn nothing from this. Ask other people about their lives and activities. Ask, listen and learn. Smiling helps communicate to other people that you are friendly.
In the modern world, neither the government nor the company you work for will look after you. You must organize your life and set objectives. When people have a lot of things to do, they can lose control. Prioritize your objectives and work to achieve them. Ask yourself what is the most important task? What is the second most important? People who fail to set priorities often subconsciously begin doing unimportant, but easier, tasks first.
Even with a plan and solid objectives, you will not achieve everything and will fail to accomplish some things. But without a plan, you will achieve very little at all.
Successful people plan their activities. Start by planning for the next day. What are you going to do tomorrow, and when? How will you achieve the best results? At the end of the day, think back and ask yourself if you have achieved your objectives and what you could have done better. It will give you vital experience for better planning in the future. When you develop the habit of planning for one day ahead, expand your scope and learn to plan for two or three days. Think long-term: Successful senior managers plan months or even years ahead.
Sometimes circumstances change. Be flexible - learn to correct and adapt or adjust your plan depending on the circumstances. Try and learn to foresee possible unexpected factors. If you rely solely on one plan and the plan fails, you will feel miserable - almost as if you have to start over. Heed the English axiom: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Have a back-up "Plan B" ready.
In business, people are expected to be on time. If a person is regularly late for his job, he will be fired. Always aim to be slightly early. Being late creates a very bad impression and gives the impression of being unreliable. Employers, customers and colleagues will not want to deal with an unreliable person.
Some believe that most Russians and Ukrainians are averse to taking notes. A person cannot manage a busy life without taking notes. If you only have one or two things to do, you can keep them in your head. If you have 20 or more tasks to attend to, it is impossible to keep them in your head.
Learn from others, but also think how to do things better than others. Do not accept what you are told without first thinking about it. Develop the habit of questioning everything. Think how to become more efficient and how to improve the quality of your work. Most Western employers welcome constructive suggestions.
We all have problems. Instead of being upset by problems, think about how you can improve the situation and what needs to be done first. Some problems you may have to live with, but solutions exist for most. Try not to let mood swings get in your way. Set objectives, priorities, develop plans and implement them step-by-step.
Eastern Europeans can be very sensitive to criticism, reacting to it somewhat irrationally, as if it is meant to be a personal attack. There are two kinds of criticism - unconstructive and constructive. Constructive, in this sense, means that which is helpful. Unconstructive means it is not helpful and probably just rude or insulting.
If someone says, "You are a fool" that is unconstructive and it is natural to be offended. If a colleague says, "You are late, and we have all been waiting for you" or "Your work could be better. It contains a lot of mistakes" that is probably constructive and may bear truth. Instead of being offended, make an effort to isolate and eliminate the bad habit. Think how to solve the problem. Ask for help and advice.
We all fail at times. Sometimes plans don't work out. Always have a back-up plan ready as an alternative in case your main plan doesn't pan out. Don't lose time being upset. Pull yourself together and try again, or switch to Plan B.
Fear of failure often prevents people doing their best. Generally, "the harder you work, the luckier you will be." People who don't try, don't fail, but they don't succeed either. If you try many different things, some will fail but others will inevitably succeed. Learn from your failures. Use them to make better plans and find greater success.
The world is changing fast. Old skills are becoming obsolete at a rapid clip. Today's world requires that you keep updating your existing skills and learning new ones.
Computers have changed the workplace a great deal and now almost everyone must have at least basic computer knowledge to hold a job.
Knowledge of a foreign language, especially English, is even more important. Ukraine and Russia can never again be closed economies. We all depend on the rest of the world, including America, China, Japan and Western Europe, in some way. The habit of learning and developing new skills is crucial for survival in a market economy.
William Normanton is an English businessman. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and Harvard Business School, and with Alex Kritskiy is writing books on Russian language for business people and Russian conversational slang. Kritskiy is a Ukrainian teacher of Russian and English who has a particular interest in introducing Ukrainians to Western time-management techniques.
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More in the section:
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Read also previous issue' articles:
A heat wave in Ukraine
"The Spirit of Hollybush" Comes to Donetsk
The new wave of Labor Migration
Home Discoveries
Asserting dignity
New Public Health for the New Ukraine
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