@Kevin: Good points, although I don’t think 5th point applies everywhere. Sure, there are these negative forces, but it’s up to you to surround yourself with positive minded people – those who do not limit you but, support your doing.

1. Enjoy what you do. If you find yourself dreading work repeatedly, find other work. If you hate your job, then find another job. I’m not advocating leaving the moment your job isn’t fun. But if it remains intractably miserable, then you should leave.

2. Don’t be afraid to show your ignorance, it is nothing to be ashamed of. “He who asks, learns.” As a CIO, I had to manage tech support personnel. I was amazed at the ‘tech-arrogance’ some of them displayed. To counter this, I reminded them to remember the day when they didn’t know the answer – and to try to view the client through that lens. We aren’t all born with the inate knowledge we’ll need to succeed.

3. Risk defeat. Success is never gained by any means but risking loss. I won’t elaborate on this one.

4. Never define yourself by what you do. Define yourself by who you are. Defining yourself by what you do leads to the easy temptation of defining others by what they do. Cheapening yourself this way limits your exposure to a wealth of experiences. Don’t fall into that trap.

5. Never limit yourself – others will find ways to try to limit you. Why give them any assistance?

Kevin

Losing the opportunity to ask something, is the same as losing the opportunity to get more information and know more terms. If you always ask, the more info you can get and people wont kick you out, because you are not afraid of asking questions(you got accustomed).