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The 4 Fundamental Habits of $100,000 Employees 
By: John M. Reisinger
Based on 2006 statistics from the US Dept. of Commerce only 5.6% of individuals make over $100,000 a year. Counting household incomes over $100,000 that number bumps up to 15.8%. Six figure careers don't just happen. They're earned and developed. The first year I earned $100K, I was 29 years old (I'm 38 now). It has nothing to do with being lucky or getting a "good job", or even your college degree. I only attended college 3 years and never graduated but that hasn't stopped me from consistently earning top 5% income. If you can't seem to break the $100K barrier, your career development plan may need attention in one or more of these four habits.
Six-Figure Habit #1 - Make and Keep Really Big Promises
Most employees hate to make commitments, yet alone promise anything. They're much more content to float through their jobs, do the bare minimum, and collect their checks. The six-figure earner sees promises, and commitments as opportunities to add significant value to their clients, and their company. They look at meeting quotas as failing. Their aim is to shatter and rewrite quota systems by making promises and commitments they can consistently deliver on. As they build a reputation for making and delivering big promises management and competitors take notice and make big promises and commitments to them.
$100,000 Habit #2 - Heightened Problem Awareness
I'm not talking about being aware of the latest gossip around the office. $100K Heightened Problem awareness is knowing the purpose of why you were hired for your role. Do you know what problems your company hired you to solve? People making less than six-figures might say, "Nobody ever told me". And that is why you haven't broken $100K. Six-figure earners have a highly acute radar for the most painful problems of their clients, co-workers, and management and how they might solve them. A side benefit of this habit is it uncovers potentially big promises they'll be able to deliver on.
$100K Habit #3 - Develop Innovations for Clients and Company
If you're afraid of making mistakes chance are high you'll never join the $100K club. That's because you never question what you're told, and don't ask questions when other people's emergencies abuse your valuable time. It's not a problem, if you're ambition is to earn less than you're worth. $100K earners make lots of mistakes and stir up trouble because they're all about trying to rally support for solving meaningful problems. They challenge co-workers and management to rethink "we tried that" attitudes and stale knowledge. They don't hesitate to call upon their past experiences. And borrow ideas from colleagues in other industries for innovative approaches to long standing problems that will create new offerings, reduce costs, and increase revenue for clients and their company.
Six-Figure Habit #4 - Agile Decision Making
Just look at the gaggle of meetings you attend each week and you'll see employees who run from making decisions. The Six-figure professional doesn't get mire in this. She side steps the wasteland of ineffectiveness by seeking out those who can make things happen. Whether she's leading or contributing, she skillfully makes decisions with the resources at hand. And can communicate clear rationale to support them. For her, decisions are never filtered through "what's best for my career", but instead "what's best for this problem". She knows that every decision has a consequence. And that not making a decision does too. Her track record of excellent choices makes her highly prized.
What about your career? Are any of the habits missing, or lacking consistency? How long is your list of Big promises, made, kept and delivered? Only 1 or 2, Find and deliver on 1 every month. What painful problems are your clients and management dying to have solved that you've ignored? What mistakes are you afraid to make? Your clients and company are eagerly hiring consultants who they'll pay 10 times your salary to help them solve their most painful problems, how about they pay you instead? If you want to be highly PAID here's an acronym to keep nearby: Promise. Awareness. Innovation. Decisions.
Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles
Need help developing $100K habits? Work with Life Strategist John Reisinger to develop your own Career Advancement or Career Change strategy.
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