Top 8 lessons my professional life has taught me
By: Joe Abdel Sater
Tags: Self Development, Life Lessons, Experience, Work Tips, Growth Hacking

When someone says work experience, you probably think about all the technical skills that person has learned after spending a few years at a certain job. Especially for young engineers (myself included), we believe that growing professionally means mastering complex technologies and fancy approaches to solving more challenging problems.

Surely, you will develop from a technical point of view, but in this article I share with you some of the things I have learned since I started working (as an employee and as a business owner later on), in terms of personal growth, in a professional context. I like to call it “Professional maturity”.

1- Learn from your colleagues

Have you ever been through a situation that you’ve reflected upon at some point in the future and said “I could have handled it differently” or “I wish I said “this or that” instead”? We all have. None of us are born knowing how to handle every possible situation, we learn from our own mistakes, hence handle similar situations better in the future.

Every day, each and everyone of your colleagues handles multiple situations differently than you would have. Keep your eyes and ears open and watch them closely, and take note of what works and what doesn’t. Try to analyze why their approach worked or failed, and try to figure out what they could have done differently. Learn from their experiences. This will speed up your learning and provides you knowledge on someone else’s expense, instead of yours.

“The world is a university and everyone in it is a teacher. Make sure when you wake up in the morning, you go to school.” ―T. D. Jakes

2- Learn from your boss’s failures, as much as you do from their success

I can’t count the times I’ve heard someone call their boss incompetent, or how they wish they had a better superior to learn from. We think that learning what to do is the only valuable thing to learn from someone with a higher grade. However it is often watching them commit mistakes which holds the most knowledge and value. Knowing what not to do, is as important as knowing what to do.

Doing something wrong is more damaging than not doing something perfectly, especially in situations which demand a certain level of expertise, which your superiors face on a daily basis. When they do actually commit these mistakes, remember, it doesn’t mean that they are incompetent. After all, they are as human as you are. They are also learning, the same way you are.

“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” ― John Dewey

3- Patience is a virtue

­How many times have you felt frustrated because you haven’t been promoted for a very long time? Or because you haven’t found a better job opportunity? Or maybe because you haven’t received a reply on an important matter?

We all face the same stress factors. It is normal to feel this way especially if you are an ambitious person by nature. If you’ve been doing the best you can, all the good things you want are bound to happen to you, in good time. Trust yourself and the work you’ve put in so far, and know that your improvement is inevitable. You just need to wait for the right time for the opportunity to present itself. This will save you a lot of anxiety.

“Patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet” — Jean-Jaques rouseau

4- Treat clients as if they were your friends

Clients are people that are trusting you with their hard earned money, to acquire something they need. Sometimes, we do the mistake of treating them like complete strangers or simply as a business transaction, and fail to recognize the latter. Make sure that you provide them with their exact need, whatever it takes. Let them know you are on their side.

If you build good relationships with your clients, they are more likely to trust you on a personal level, and therefore bring you more business on the long run. And if you ever start your own business, they will not hesitate to show you their support as they already know that you must be good at whatever it is you are now doing.

“Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of.” — Bob Vanourek

5- Never lose your cool

Never lose your temper, especially at work. Period.

It will make you seem weak and not in control of the situation. We’ve all done it at a certain point. At least I have, and there is nothing I regret more. Everything can be solved when you keep your cool (or at least pretend to do so). You can only think clearly when you are calm. Postpone your reaction to the situation if possible, just so you can handle it when you are in a better state of mind.

“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon” — Bruce Lee

6- Your boss is also human

Very often our boss is portrayed as the villain of the story. Always angry and maybe scary for some, gives very few raises and few promotions, very little days off etc … We must hate them right?

We often forget that this person probably has problems exactly similar to ours (relationship, health, family, financial etc ..), the same responsibilities and sometimes even more (also on a personal level, not only at work). Most of the times, it is their superiors who impose these harsh terms on you through them, and it is unfortunately part of their job description to be the ones to deliver the bad news to you.

“With great power comes great responsibility” — Uncle ben

7- Organize your day, first thing in the morning

You will get a lot more done. Trust me. First thing in the morning, grab a piece of paper or an app and write down everything you need to do on that day, and better yet, try to write the time you wish to allocate for each task, and what time you’re willing to start. Also plan your breaks. Your productivity will skyrocket and you will be able to measure your work capacity, and learn to better organize your tasks with time.

“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” — Henry David Thoreau

8- Always wait before sending angry email replies

You’re going to wish you were nicer after reading it the next day, I promise. Just save it as a draft, wait until you calm down, then read it again, modify it, and only then press send. You’ll save yourself unnecessary arguments. Resist the urge to lash out on someone no matter how satisfying it may seem. You will regret it almost every time.

Wrapping things up

Try to keep these 8 points in mind the next time you go to work, just give them a try.

I would love to know what you think works for you (or doesn’t). Better yet, I would appreciate if you share your own tips so I can learn from you as well!

I hope you enjoyed this post, a bientot!