Everyone wants to grow their career and they want to know what tips are available for them to follow to help them with their career growth. There are thousands of tips on many fronts—from how to go above and beyond in your assignments to managing your boss—available, so in this blog I am distilling my recommendations to just 10. If you understand the meaning behind why they are my top picks you can have a fulfilling career for yourself, even if you do not follow all the others. If you have any suggestions please feel free to share them in the Comments space below this blog, so others can benefit from them.

1. Always know your sweet spot and carve out within your assignment tasks that belong in that space. Try to do everything else first and then dazzle everyone with your performance doing what you love to do in your assignment. No job is all fun; so make the best of what comes your way.
2. Always meet your commitments and if you cannot, alert your boss/team that your task is in jeopardy as soon as you become aware of it and ahead of time with a new recovery date. Work hard to beat your recovery date.
3. Remember most of the problems in your job stem from frayed relationships, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. Learn how to repair errant relationships, communicate better, and develop better understanding among your fellow workers and superiors. Learn how to have crucial conversations and master how to present your point of view persuasively.
4. Do not assume; ask!
5. Look and act confident and powerful. This will help you realize what Branson exhorts in his quote above.
6. You never get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.
7. Learn how to manage your boss; if you cannot manage them, they cannot manage you. Most do not understand the significance of this simple responsibility.
8. Remember that ~80% of the bosses are dysfunctional, incompetent, or indifferent and they are your boss for of any number of wayward reasons. So, do not think that by running away from your current boss will improve your situation. Learn how to deal with what you have and start having the right conversations with your boss before you decide to leave (see #3). This way you are better equipped to deal with your next errant boss.
9. If you want to maintain your career momentum and stay employed on your terms, change employers every 3-5 years, change jobs every 5-7 years, and change careers every 10 or so years.
10. The only person responsible to manage your career is you; it is not your employer or your boss.

Good luck!