There will always come a time when something has to give and you choose to make a sacrifice for your career or business. It could be sacrificing pleasurable downtime for work, sacrificing surety for change, or even sacrificing aspects of your family situation. And when it comes to making that choice, keep in mind your career has to be as important—if not more—than some things in your life. That’s why you have to make some sacrifices for success.
1.Commute
Everyone would like a short travel time to and from work. But not everyone is able work around the corner from their home. If the business or role you want happens to be a longer distance away, you have to sacrifice that short commute.
And sure, you can make the argument for moving closer to the better job, but very few of us are able to easily make that move — especially where family are also involved.
2. Days off
You know the saying “stuck between a rock and a hard place” right? Well, in regards to this tip, it means that if you’re asked to choose between having time away from work and working an extra shift or for longer, then chose the latter.
Mainly because, in the long run, it will make you look better in your bosses’ eyes and will show your dedication to your job—no matter how much you really wanted that time off.
3. Evenings and weekends
As with the reason above, employers love hard working and dedicated employees—especially if they are willing to work evenings and weekends. This may be because of a looming deadline or because of rotating work schedules, but the point is… you’re willing.
Sacrificing this, even if it’s not very often, can impress your boss and colleagues by showing them the kind of worker you are and that you’re willing to put in the extra hours to get things done—which can even go a long way to impressing your boss’ boss.
4. Position
There are a lot of companies who prefer promoting employees internally, rather than have someone leave a—usually senior—position and hire an outsider.
If your company is one of those, sacrificing an excellent position in another company for staying in your current job for the promotion potential can be a strategy for success.
Doing this can also mean that, when you do apply for a new job and move on to it, your resume will have a longer amount time listed in a previous job and that can mean the difference between you getting the new job or not.
Just don’t wait forever. Set yourself a feasible time frame for the promotion, and if it doesn’t come… move on.
5. Salary
When you think about progressing in your career and getting promotions, it’s completely normal to think about your salary increasing. But sometimes, this may not happen or at least not to the extent you expect it to.
Don’t be discouraged. This can happen for a number of reasons — the economy, or the offering of other workplace benefits are often factors. In those cases, it may be worthwhile to sacrifice the chance of a salary rise in exchange for job security or flexible working conditions.
It may just be that your salary and whatever pay rise you do get is all that can be afforded at the time and that you may have to put up with it for a little while longer.
Besides, this may change as time goes on, with you eventually getting the pay rise you deserve and expected in the fist place. If, for example, you are interested in software development, you can look for the best software engineer jobs and apply for an entry-level position. When you take your work seriously and your employer sees your potential, salary increase will eventually follow.
6. Location
In your working lifetime, it’s unlikely that you’ll never have to move because of your job—whether it’s your choice to move or part of a promotion that’s out of your control. In either case, don’t worry. Often a change in location because of work can be a good thing because of the opportunities moving away may present you.
So even if it’s far away from your friends, family and everything that is familiar to you, don’t be afraid to sacrifice your location for your job, simply because it’s not where you want to be or work. And given time, you could well grow to love the new location.
7. Stability
Uncertainty can be scary because, well, it’s basically the unknown. But sacrificing your stability for your career can be a good thing because of all the opportunities jumping into the unknown can bring—like changing careers or quitting your job.
And, sometimes having an unstable period in your career/life may give you the kick in the pants you need to reach and move up to the next level in your career … or onto a new one.
8. Personal life
There are certain challenges that come with trying to balance a good work/personal life, like not having enough time to spend with your partner, kids or having to reschedule social engagements with friends—all because of work.
But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, at least not all the time. While having and maintaining relationships with friends and family and keeping any other kind of social engagement is important—so is your work.
Besides, spending time away from friends, family and your social life because of work can make you more appreciative of the time you do get to spend with them or socializing.
9. Quiet time
Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice that precious time alone you use to collect your thoughts. This can often be necessary when you have deadlines looming or extra workload. We all know that quiet time can relieve stress, but there are situations where you have to sacrifice temporarily. Just make sure you put a limit on how long you will do that. Everybody needs to recharge and you can’t go without it forever.
