by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS
The VET Recruiter®
I am a fan of Dwayne Johnson’s rules for professional success even though I admit I haven’t seen many of his movies.
More than likely, most of you know who I’m talking about. Dwayne Johnson is also known as “The Rock.” He was a wrestler/performer for the World Wrestling Federation (which eventually became World Wrestling Entertainment) before he launched an acting career in Hollywood.
Some of you who are familiar with his story know that Johnson had to work from the bottom up to attain the high level of success that he enjoys today. He played college football for the University of Miami and briefly considered trying to play professional football. That didn’t pan out, but Johnson refused to allow that to dissuade him. Instead, he’s become one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, a fan favorite who succeeds on social media nearly as much as he succeeds at the box office.
So what is the secret to Dwayne Johnson’s success? It’s really not as complicated as you might think. In fact, it’s really quite simple.
A few years ago, Johnson was featured in Fortune magazine’s Leadership/Best Advice issue. As you might imagine, the magazine asked for advice for achieving success. In addition to Johnson, I’m also a fan of self-help guru and author Napoleon Hill. In fact, I’ve written an article based solely on Hill’s advice for success. What strikes me the most about the comparison between Johnson and Hill is that their advice is similar. Their advice is both simple and effective.
As evidence of this, according to what Johnson said in the Forbes magazine article, he had six pieces of advice:
- Basics
- Consistency
- Audience
- Earn it
- Be yourself
- There is no secret
However, it was what Johnson said about the six pieces of advice that was so striking. For example, below were some of his comments:
“It’s fundamentals: show up, outwork everyone, and rely on my own two hands to get the job done.”
“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
“I’m always asked, ‘What’s the secret to success?’ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.”
You may think that movie star Dwayne Johnson has nothing to teach people who work in the Animal Health industry or Veterinary profession. After all, he hasn’t gone to veterinary school. He doesn’t have the technical skills or experience in the field. That’s true, but he does know about achieving success on a grand scale, and the lessons that he has learned along the way apply to just about everyone.
This correlates with a personal belief of mine that it’s not what you know that really matters, it’s what you do with that knowledge. All the knowledge in the world is basically useless unless you do something with it. To be successful, action is required. Dwayne Johnson knows this. He’s spent his entire career accumulating knowledge, often through trial and error, and then applying that knowledge in a tangible way that produced results.
For example, you could know that you need to make a change in your life, such as changing your job or seeking out and pursuing other employment opportunities. But knowing that you need to do it and actually doing it are two different things. It’s not enough to know that you have to do something. It’s the doing part of the process that’s the most important. What you know is NOT the ultimate predictor of your success. What you do about what you know IS.
As an Animal Health recruiter and Veterinary recruiter for more than 20 years, I wholeheartedly agree with Dwayne Johnson’s advice for career success. Johnson is correct. There are no shortcuts. To be successful, you must be humble, you must work hard, and you must work hard on a consistent basis.
You must also be open to opportunity. You must be open to hearing about it and you must consider pursuing it. I’m not saying you have to pursue every opportunity that you come across. But you should at least be open to hearing about an opportunity and after hearing about it, deciding whether or not you want to pursue it.
Because you would probably agree that Dwayne Johnson has never been in the habit of ignoring opportunity. He considers opportunities that comes his way, and he does a great job of creating opportunities for himself, as well.
And THAT is what Dwayne Johnson can teach you about career success.
(Click here to read the Forbes article in its entirety.)
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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