10 Career Advancement Quotes: Inspirational Thoughts on Career Opportunities and Changes

10 Career Advancement Quotes: Inspirational Thoughts on Career Opportunities and Changes
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Getting Motivated

Imagine a workplace where strategically positioned career advancement quotes could be glimpsed by employees as they go about their daily routines. These brief pieces of literature would be placed by management as a way of instilling positive influences in the environment. The aim would be to continuously impress in the minds of workers to take two directional steps in mobilizing their careers: forward and up.

Envision a hallway where everyone passes through most of the time. At the end of the day, almost everyone converges in this area, and can be stalled for a while during rush hour as they wait for their elevator rides.

Instead of staring at walls or constantly checking at your time piece, why not contemplate these great career advancement quotes while waiting for the elevator doors to open?

An Analogy between Elevator Doors and Career Opportunities

800px-LUP-elevators

Some employees are content with the present jobs they have occupied for years. They entrust their future careers to fate and the most that they hope for is to retain their jobs through the day that their retirement is up.

Others have not been as lucky during the recent economic downturn; they realized too late that fate is not always the best ally.

1: “There is no security in life, only opportunity.”- Mark Twain

Opportunities are like elevators; they arrive and open their doors for those who wait; but could close the doors just as instantly for those who are sidetracked by other activities, or for those who hesitate for some reason or another.

2: “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” - Benjamin Disraeli

If the elevator doors open while you are busily rummaging through your bag, the others, of course, would be quicker; they could easily fill the cab to its maximum capacity.

The same thing is true with how some employees perceive work as mere occupations and not as careers. Other employees are more up to date with current trends and take up additional continuing education units or a Master’s degree. Once career opportunities are presented, they feel ready to take on the challenges of a new job. Nowadays, online courses can make this possible.

800px-Escada de emergência - Edifício Copan, São Paulo - SP - Brasil

3: “When one door closes, another opens: but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”- Benjamin Disraeli

As much as you regret missing the ride, you would think that there is no other option but to wait. However, if one is in a hurry, he could consider making a move toward the exit door and maintain mobility by using the back stairs in order to reach his destination at the appointed time.

In most workplaces, there are those who merely regret not following the careers or occupations which their hearts truly desired. Today, most of the jobs that they forewent have transitioned into high-paying job opportunities; hence there are those who go through midlife career changes rather than pass up another chance to realize their dream jobs.

Still, some of the younger generations prefer to exploit their talents while the demand is high rather than spend their time in college. As they reach the turning points in their careers, it would be to their advantage if they pursued college education to enhance their skills. This way, they can maintain their edge over the incoming generations by possessing combined knowledge, skills, and experience.

4: “There are costs and risks to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”- John F. Kennedy

Another individual who also feels pressured by time considers taking the flight of stairs but is hesitant because his destination is at the top-floor level. He perceives the hard climb as too tedious and decides that he’s not up to it at the moment.

In building a career, employees should adopt the right attitude about taking laborious but important steps toward career advancement:

Turn to the next page for the continuation of our analogy about elevator doors and career opportunities.

An Analogy between Elevator Doors and Career Opportunities (continuation)

Cartoon über Auszubildende am Arbeitsplatz.–(Cartoon of Trainees in the Workplace)

5: “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.”- Ayn Rand

Nevertheless, for those of you who still wait patiently in the hallway, the best strategy you could probably think of is to pay more attention to the flashing numbers above the elevator doors.

Patience still has its virtues, though, because many employees do advance in their careers through loyalty and hard work. However, in case of setbacks, learn from your mistakes by becoming proactive in your career plans.

6: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”- Henry Ford

There are some individuals, though, who are quite lucky. They have just arrived at the hallway and get to stand in front of the elevator door that is about to open. They could be too brazen as to slip-in through a line and get a ride ahead of the others who have been standing in line for a longer time.

You have often heard how some people are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. It’s also a matter of being prepared or bold enough to take on a new challenge. Yet we have to face the fact that life is not ideal; there are those who will step on your toes and infringe upon your rights if they deem themselves as stronger contenders in a competitive work environment.

7: “To succeed, jump quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” - Benjamin Franklin

Those who were overtaken get irked, of course, but they feel there’s nothing else to do but wait, since the numbers indicate that their elevator door is about to open.

There are those whose career advancements are assured through a system of succession, but caution should also be instilled because opportunity assurances are only good as far as your contribution to the company is concerned. Discrimination against age is strictly prohibited, but in the real world, it can still happen.

8: “The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”- George Bernard Shaw

In waiting for an elevator ride, there should be awareness of the possibility that the cab that is about to come up could be full of passengers. Stoically, people simply wait for their luck to change.

Bear in mind that when it comes to career advancements, those who have made notable landmarks in their professions did not perceive “luck” as a random experience but as a bonus that came along when they took action.

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9: “I’m a great believer of luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it.”- Thomas Jefferson

Nonetheless, the similarity between elevator doors and opportunities ends if the point of comparison is the certainty of arrival. An empty elevator is sure to come up, no matter how long it takes; but opportunities for career growth could be elusive. Employees may even fail to recognize the instances when these career breaks are presented to them.

10: “We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” - Lee Iacocca

Perhaps the next time you stand and wait in the hallway, you’ll pay heed to the career advancement quotes posted on the hallway walls. These were words uttered by famous people who found success in life by taking positive action instead of simply waiting for career opportunities to happen.

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