Throughout our careers, small, often random, nuggets of wisdom stick with us. For me, these include:
When on business travel, always eat local.
Always print materials the day before you need them - never the day of a big meeting or event. (I’m frenemies with printers.)
Check and recheck technology, volume and embedded videos for presentations.
Prioritize building relationships, and do not be afraid to network.
Make gratitude and acknowledgement a constant - at least a once a week action item.
Update your resume regularly, after each career highlight and milestone. You may never know when it will be needed.
Be authentic, and let your hair down.
Be humble and hungry.
Smile Files
A final nugget which has been perhaps the most impactful is the importance of keeping a “Smile File.” One of my first supervisors encouraged that I start one, and I am so glad I did!
In my desk, I keep an up-to-date hard-copy file of things that make me smile. It contains kudos from teammates and supervisors, handwritten notes, trinkets and sentiments captured from milestone moments and personal journaling. These pages trace my career, capturing soft and hard skills, customer feedback, well wishes, trial and triumph, etc.
The purpose of maintaining such a file is to have a repository of positivity and a memory book of growth to look back on. Smile files are a source of strength to draw on during hard days and when transitioning chapters of one’s career. They enable us to look back for the purpose of launching forward.
To the Point
If resumes are action-oriented snapshots for others to read, smile files are the slowly written journals of our careers – a revisited favorite story from which we always find a new theme or nugget to propel us forward.
Do you keep a smile file? What do you keep it in? What value has it brought you? Please share below!
Consider starting a smile file. Grab a fresh file folder and start today!
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