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You are here: Home / Blog / “You’ll Never Be As Successful As You Want To Be…”

“You’ll Never Be As Successful As You Want To Be…”

February 3, 2012 By Ben

“You’ll never be as successful as you want because you don’t demand shit you want.”

An old boss told that to me.

It’s blunt, but true.

No one really wants to help you unless there is something in it for them or it fits into their larger plan.

People can’t read your mind.

You want a raise, you have to ask for it and be able to back it up.

Want to work on more interesting projects?

Take control and push yourself into them.

You obviously have to add value to the project. But you don’t get what you don’t ask for.

Often in life, you’ll never get what you want until you learn to demand it.

That starts with you.

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About Ben

Ben Nesvig is an author, writer, idea spreader, and creative dabbler.

Comments

  1. Cire Snehpets says

    February 4, 2012 at 2:03 am

    for sure.

  2. Gem Nicholls says

    February 4, 2012 at 2:38 am

    Definitely true, although this can backfire big time. This one time, at a really awful company, I was given a promotion I worked/asked for, but no raise. I guess I wasn’t specific enough 🙂

  3. Krylon says

    February 4, 2012 at 7:17 am

    It’s true. In my last two jobs were very high profile and highly sought after. I had no inside connections and was qualified, but necessarily “outstanding” in terms of credentials. I essentially “fought” agressively to get those jobs. I mean I really went after them with a passion. That’s inside story.

    But friends sometimes say to me, “oh, you always get great jobs, you’re lucky” I admit, I don’t go out of my way to discuss my process, so to the outside eye it may indeed look easy. But they have no idea how hard I’ve fought for some of my positions. So I agree with the post, if you want something you must speak up and go after it. It works.

    • Krylon says

      February 4, 2012 at 7:18 am

      Typo: but “not” necessarily “outstanding

  4. Christian Romney says

    February 4, 2012 at 10:54 am

    My nit is with the title– it doesn’t fit the body. Neither does the assertion that it’s true. Of course you can be as successful as you want to be. The second half of your post is a roadmap for doing just that. 

  5. Yipe.org says

    February 4, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    Thanks … very timely!

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