You're wrong

For the next 5 minutes, let’s elevate your career.

In today’s email:

• Prepare for good luck

• You’re wrong and I’m wrong

• Wrangle your disappointments

• Novelty

• James Dyson’s career wisdom

ON YOUR CAREER

Prepare for good luck

Ray Kroc said, “luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” It’s true that hard work begets success. But each of us will encounter good and bad luck in our careers independent of our sweat. People with fixed mindsets are less likely to seize lucky opportunities. Change can produce anxiety. Instead, we want to cultivate a growth mindset. A growth mindset helps prepare us for good luck by:

• Welcoming opportunities

• Risking smart failures

• Continuing to learn

Stephen King’s luck came when his wife rescued his first novel, Carrie, from the trash. She encouraged him to continue which led to King’s successful writing career.

Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine at the last-minute after Dougray Scott was delayed making Mission: Impossible 2.

Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin when he noticed mold killing bacteria in his petri dish. This serendipity revolutionized medicine and saved millions of lives.

COMMUNICATION

You’re wrong and I’m wrong

I used to be a money manager with Schroders. One day, I had an argument with a UBS salesperson about what we’d agreed on a deal. She was certain she was correct. I was certain she was wrong.

Our respective firms recorded trader phone calls for compliance and to resolve disputes. When we listened to the tape, both of us were wrong. It was humbling for me. We compromised and completed the deal with good humour.

It’s easy to be over-confident in our recollection of conversations. Our listening is often distracted; our memories fallible. It’s worth saying, ‘my memory is… ‘ And sometimes we’re best to de-escalate an argument by agreeing that we have competing memories.

PRODUCTIVITY

Wrangle your disappointments

We all have career disappointments. Some are from bad luck, unfairness, or competitors being better than us. We will also make mistakes. More so if we are bold with our ambition. It’s human to be disappointed. This can be a valuable emotion to motivate us to learn and improve.

We’re best to wrangle our career disappointments. We don’t want to ruminate and have them hijack our future — there’s too much new value to create. Constructive actions help us stop dwelling on disappointments. We can fail better next time. James Dyson, featured in the final article, did this 5,000 times designing his vacuum cleaner.

Onward.

1 MINUTE TO HAPPINESS

Novelty

Novelty is attractive to us for several neurological and psychological reasons. Novelty:

1. Triggers the release of dopamine, which is associated with craving, pleasure, and reward. Dopamine makes new experiences feel more enjoyable and memorable.

2. Stimulates our attention and memory. It helps strengthen existing neural connections and form new ones, contributing to cognitive development and neuroplasticity.

3. Evokes strong emotions, including delight, thrill, and surprise. These emotions increase memorability and our sense of well-being.

4. May have conferred an evolutionary advantage. The attraction to novelty encourages exploring new environments and approaches, which can be crucial to adapting to change.

5. Helps alleviate boredom and monotony. It provides freshness and excitement that can enhance overall happiness and satisfaction.

Anything new you want to do in the next month?

CAREER WISDOM

James Dyson

Sir James Dyson (1947 — ) is a British inventor and entrepreneur. He studied design at the Royal College of Art. Dyson used cyclonic separation technology to build the first bagless vacuum cleaner. His other inventions include: bladeless air fans, commercial hand dryers, robotic vacuum cleaners, and Supersonic hair dryers. Dyson employs more than 14,000 people with operations in 80 countries. His net worth exceeds $14 billion. Dyson promotes engineering education through his foundation and the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. Some of his career wisdom: