A common area to greatly improve impact and success that I see among young entrepreneurs is their peer choices. Does peer pressure impact their careers? The answer is YES. Some of the reasons are because of the impact and affect on your mindset. Are your friends pushing towards a positive mindset or holding you back? Mindset is one of the most important factors in success and with that said, here are some things you should consider related to peer pressure.
A good rule of thumb is that who you surround yourself with, hang out with are likely the same type of people or persons you are already like and or fast becoming like them. If you have aspirations in a certain career or goal, then try to find others that are aspiring to do the same. Find peers that will challenge you to greater goals and that will not drag you down. Consider also that not every job hunt, career or goal is created equal. Different jobs have different requirements so try to find a group of peers that know more than you do, mentors or successful people in the field already and work to emulate them and what is working for them.
Network with others that know more and are beyond your current understanding and experience. They say if you are the smartest person in the room, maybe you are in the wrong room!
Second, offer your ideas and invite feedback to see what your peers think you should or could be doing. Perhaps you feel stuck or have a job where you’re always feeling left behind and waiting for the higher ups to offer you the benefits that you desire for your career. If you want to improve your situation, work every day to improve your skills to make yourself more marketable and create the road map to something that you dream of using your time to make a lot of connections in the process. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
Keep your resume up to date and do everything you can to promote yourself and ask your peers to review and provide feedback. You never know when your potential employer is going to look over his/her shoulders and see you. Having a strong resume is a plus, but nothing beats actually meeting with prospective employers. Even if you’re trying to convince yourself that the interviewer won’t take you seriously, you have to think about it.
At a critical juncture in your career, you need to realize that there are certain people who will pressure you to do certain things. However, in order to deal with these issues, you must choose a career where you are most comfortable. Again, find successful peers and strengthen those relationships.
Be sure to use your life experience to your advantage. If you’ve ever been afraid to try something new, even if it’s dangerous, then you probably should do it anyway. Risk can be tricky, frightening and uncomfortable but the rewards always are to those who put themselves out there so do not hesitate, get out there and create the life you dream of, and drop the peers that you need to and add new ones.
To The Next Level!