Get ready to unlock your career potential with our ultimate guide! Packed with 36 expert career advice gems and an impressive collection of 180 career inspirational quotes, this article is your ticket to success.
From conquering challenges to cultivating resilience, our curated advice covers it all, while the inspirational career quotes will inspire, motivate and propel your ambitions.
Whether you’re a fresh graduate, career changer, or aiming for new heights, these actionable tips and insightful career quotes will guide you to your goals. Join us on this transformative journey as we delve into this enriching collection of guidance and motivation.
Let’s embark on this remarkable journey together!
1. Work with Your Dreams and Passions
“You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true” – Richard Bach
“There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive” – Oprah Winfrey
“The only thing that stands between a man and what he really wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible” – Richard Devos
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs
“Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. Not education. Not being born with hidden talents. Desire.” – Johnny Carson
2. Know and Fix Your Blind Spots
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” – Aristotle
“It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. People have blind spots about where they’re weak.” – Scott Erker
“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened” – Lao Tzu
“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have” – Doris Mortman
“Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful” – Ann Landers
“If an egg is broken by outside force, life ends. If broken by inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from inside.” – Buddha’s Teaching
3. Work with Your Strengths and Weaknesses
“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.” – Marilyn vos Savant
“Play to your strengths” – J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
“I actually think one of my strengths is my storytelling” – Quentin Tarantino
“Life is very interesting…in the end, some of your greatest pain become your greatest strengths” – Drew Barrymore
“Build upon strengths, and weaknesses will gradually take care of themselves” – Joyce C. Lock
“Every strength becomes a weakness when not practiced.”― Mwanandeke Kindembo
4. Deliver on your promises and commitments
“Don’t ever promise more than you can deliver, but always deliver more than you promise” – Lou Holtz
“Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once” – Norman Vincent Peale
“You’ve got to deliver on short-range commitments, while you develop a long-range strategy and vision and implement it” – Jack Welch
“Losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep” – Denis Waitley
“He was ever precise in promise-keeping” – William Shakespeare
5. Work with Trust and Integrity
“They key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead we trust people to be who we want them to be – and when they’re not, we cry” – David Duchovny
“You cannot do everything at once, so find people you trust to help you. And don’t be afraid to say no” – Jane Seymour
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationship” – Stephen Covey
“Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks” – Isaac Watts
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity” – W. Clement Stone
“Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.” – Melody G. Maac
6. Work Positively and Have Fun
“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” – Zig Ziglar
“In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” – Dalai Lama
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie
“I think we’re having fun. I think our customers, really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.” – Steve Jobs
“Keep your face always toward the sun – and shadow will all behind you.” – Walt Whitman
7. Work Patiently and Persistently
“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” – Napoleon Hill
“How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” – William Shakespeare
“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” – Arnold H. Glasgow
“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life” – Chinese Proverb
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
8. Work Hard
“Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.” – Brian Tracy
“Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. you get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.” – Mary Lou Retton
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else” – Albert Einstein
“The average person puts only 25 per cent of his energy and ability into his work” – Andrew Carnegie
“Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers” – Magic Johnson
“Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
“I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything.” – Jon Stewart
9. Work with Empathy
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy” – Meryl Streep
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible” – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
“When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you” – Susan Sarandon
“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own.” – Henry Ford
“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.” – Henry Boye
10. Work with Mentors
“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” – Bob Proctor
“I think the role model is a mentor – someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.” – Denzel Washington
“Everyone, no matter how big and strong, could use a little help sometimes. Never be afraid to ask for help when you need it. What are we here for, if not for each other?” – Doe Zantamata
“All you need to do to receive guidance is to ask for it and then listen” – Sanaya Roman
“When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self.” – Confucius
11. Coach and Help Others
“You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want in life.” – Zig Ziglar
“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
“As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others and it you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama
“When you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” – Michelle Obama
12. Give Others Recognition and Credits
“Recognition is the greatest motivator.” – Gerakd C. Eakedale
“There are two things people want more than sex and money…recognition and praise.” – Mary Kay Ash
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel.” – Maya Angelou
“I’ve always been an unselfish guy, and that’s the only way I know how to play on the court and I try to play to the maximum of my ability – not only for myself but for my teammates.” – LeBron James
“Praise can be your most valuable asset as long as you don’t aim it at yourself.” – Oriando A. Battista
13. Network and Build Relationships
“To be successful, you have to be able to relate to people; they have to be satisfied with your personality to be able to do business with you and to build a relationship with mutual trust.” – George Ross
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” – Dale Carnegie
“Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo
“The importance of building relationships among colleagues, of trying to create coalitions behind the issues that you are championing, was not something I ever had much insight into until I was elected and started serving in the Senate.” – Hillary Clinton
“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon
14. Align with Your Employer’s Mission and Vision
“The most empowering condition of all is when the entire organization is aligned with its mission, and people’s passions and purpose are in synch with each other.” – Bill George Peter Sims
“When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic” – Charles R. Swindoll
“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose – Edward de Bono
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy
15. Understand the Working Culture of Your Employer
“The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything.” – Louis V.Gerstner
“Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got.”. – Peter F. Drucker
“Don’t be afraid about not fitting in. It’s hard not to pay attention to that when you’re young, but being different means you’re being you..” – Kristen Stewart
“Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train. Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you’re just sitting still?” – J. Paul Getty
“I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.” – Greg Smith
16. Understand and Work With Office Politics
“Politics is the food of sense exposed to the hunger of folly.” – Fulke Greville
“Man is by nature a political animal.” – Aristotle
“Many promising executives derail sometimes during their careers, often because they weren’t very good at office politics“ – Prof. Jeffrey Pfeffer
“I realized that talent would get me as far as middle management, but beyond that point it would become a matter of politics and carrying favour with bosses.” – Masahiro Origuchi
“I never repeat gossip, so listen carefully..” – Anonymous
17. Be an Ambassador for Your Workplace
“Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Before you speak ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.” – Bernard Meltzer
“Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” – Voltaire
“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly…but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – Roald Dahl
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde
18. Accept and Embrace Change
“If you don’t create change, change will create you.” – Gwyneth Paltrow
“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.” – George Santayana
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.” – Robert C Gallagher
19. Always Do the Right Thing
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity” – W. Clement Stone
“Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard.” – Joel Olsteen
“All the mistakes I ever made were when I wanted to say ‘no’ and said ‘yes'”” – Moss Hart
“Learn to say “no” to the good so you can say “yes” to the best.” – John C. Maxwell
20. Work Beyond Your Job Description
“Always do more than is required of you.” – General George Patton
“Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.” – Gary Ryan Blair
“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” – Roger Staubach
“Today, and every day, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable.” – Og Mandino
“You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.” – Napoleon Hill
21. Work with Grace and Humility
“I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.” – John Ruskin
“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.” – Winston Churchill
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee
“Arrogance invites ruin; humility receives benefits.” – Chinese proverb
“No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.” – Alexander Pope
22. Work Quickly When Necessary
“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.” – Elbert Hubbard
“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti
“I cannot work fast enough.” – Werner Herzog
“If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.” – Jesse Jackson
“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” – Isaac Asimov
23. Reduce Your Stress Levels
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are” – Chinese proverb
“It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.” – Wayne Dyer
“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth your health, Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” – Steve Maraboli
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing it self, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.” – James Allen
24. Work on Your Career Plan
“Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” – Geoffrey Fisher
“Think ahead. don’t let day-to-day operation drive out planning.” – Donald Rumsfeld
“I am a big believer in visualization. I run through my races mentally so that I feel even more prepared.” – Allyson Felix
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. you can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to do.” – Dr Seuss
“One of the best moves you will ever make is to redefine your career objectives.”― Sim Ngezahayo
25. Work on Your Judgement and Discernment
“Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.” – Anon
“Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning.” – Marshal Erwin Rommel
“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.” – Jim Rohn
“We need discernment in what we see and what we hear and what we believe.” – Charles R. Swindoll
“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.” – Henry Ward Beecher
26. Work on Your Body Language and Presence
“With me it’s always about first impressions.” – Billy Zane
“You can tell a lot by someone’s body language.” – Harvey Wolter
“I have three tools at my disposal – my whistle, my body language and my talk. It is a question of how I marry them up to try to get the players around to my way of thinking.” – Alan Lewis
“You will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will every be original.” – C.S. Lewis
“We convince by our presence.” – Walt Whitman
27. Be a Great Learner
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” – Winston Churchill
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
“Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century” – Alfred Edward Pearlman
28. Become an Avid Listener
“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” – Doug Larson
“If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.” – Robert Baden-Powell
“So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” – M. Scott Peck
29. Ask Questions and Be Inquisitive
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever .” – Chinese proverb
“We run this company [Google] on questions, not answers.” – Eric Schmidt
“Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers.” – Voltaire
“Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.” – Robert Half
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Never lose a holy curiosity.” – Albert Einstein
30. Be Assertive and Take a Stand
“There’s an art to knowing when to speak up and when to back off.” – Layla Kayleigh
“He who does not have the courage to speak up for his rights cannot earn the respect of others.” – Rene G. Torres
“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill
“Assertiveness is not what you do, it’s who you are.” – Shakti Gawain
31. Deal With Conflict Well
“We should have much peace if we would not busy ourselves with the sayings and doings of others.” – Thomas a’Kempis
“The Law of Win/Win says, ‘Let’s not do it your way or my way, let’s do it the best way.'” – Greg Anderson
“The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts.” – Howard Baker
“If you can’t go around it, over it, or through it, you had better negotiate with it.” – Ashleigh Brilliant
“An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.” – Lynn Johnston
32. Work on Your Email-writing Skills
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin
“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury
“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” – Eric Hoffer
“Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.” – Clarence Thomas
“To disagree, one doesn’t have to be disagreeable.” – Barry M. Goldwater
33. Work Well with Your Boss
“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure.” – Bill Gates
“If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter.” – John Gotti
“Show me a man who is a good loser and I’ll show you a man who is playing golf with his boss.” – Jim Murray
“No man goes before his time, unless the boss leaves early.” – Groucho Marx
“Accomplishing the impossible means only the boss will add it to your regular duties.” Dough Larson
34. Actively Seek Feedback
“Feedback is the breakfast of champion.” – Ken Blanchard
“Negative feedback is better than none. I would rather have a man hate than overlook me.” – Hugh Prather
“If you don’t get feedback from your performers and your audience, you’re going to be working in a vacuum.” – Peter Maxwell Davies
“Ask for feedback from people with diverse background. Each one will tell you one useful thing.” – Steve Jobs
“Everybody needs feedback, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than paying a trainer.” – Doug Lowenstein
35. Always Manage Your Emotions
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” – Ambrose Bierce
“Anger is only one letter short of danger.” – Anon
“Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
36. Have the Courage to Risk Failing
“It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” – Carlton Fisk
“I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.” – Lou Holts
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gate
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk…in a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg
Read More: 80 Inspiring Working Women Quotes to Fuel Your Ambition (With Images)
No Comments