This is the final post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about complacency. Complacency sets in when we allow ourselves to get too comfortable at work and it can sometimes happen without us even realising. In this series of articles we’ve talked about risk-taking, ambition, proactive learning and leadership - all of which boil down to this idea of not letting ourselves get too comfortable.

This is the nineteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about learning. All the people you look up to in your professional life are likely to have one thing in common - they never stop learning. Just like life itself, your career is a journey. You should always strive to develop your knowledge and acquire new skills, and your twenties are an absolutely perfect time to develop this habit.

This is the eighteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about ambition. Picturing where you’d like to see yourself a decade down the line can be a real motivator, particularly during those stressful periods when your workload is high. We all have things that we strive for, and it’s a good idea to start laying the groundwork for those goals early in your career. In fact, laying that groundwork can even help with your day-to-day performance at work.

This is the sixteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about mentoring. Some roles will automatically assign a mentor figure - someone you can speak to about your concerns at work in order to be more effective in your role. While this is increasingly common in larger organisations, it’s not always a given. Even if you have been ‘assigned’ a mentor, there’s no harm in taking advice from other sources as and when you need it.

This is the fourteenth piece in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties and this time we’re talking about weaknesses. We all have them. Most of us are happy to talk about our strengths, but weaknesses are something that most of us would rather forget. The thing is, that can actually be counterproductive when it comes to getting on in your career. Knowing your strengths is important, but it could be argued that knowing your limitations and weaknesses is even more vital. Here’s why…

This is the thirteenth post in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time we’re focusing on reliability. We touched on some elements of this in our article on commitment, but the importance of demonstrating reliability cannot be overstated. You want to be a rock for your colleagues - being so will earn you a great deal of kudos and respect. However, you should also respect your own shortcomings and say in advance when you might be about to let someone down.

This is the twelfth article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and this time we’re talking about how failure can sometimes be a good thing. We all make mistakes from time to time, but one of the things that defines us is our ability to learn from them. In fact, many would argue that success can’t be reached without a few failures along the way - we shouldn’t think of ‘failure’ as such a negative word. All it means is that we tried something that didn’t quite work, in order to find out what does work. Even science is built on this very premise.

This is the eleventh article in our twenty-part series on how to accelerate your career in your twenties, and today we’re talking about commitment. In other words, always following through on promises and finishing what you start. The last thing you want to do is gain a reputation for being a ‘non-finisher’. As you get on in your career, you’ll find that this reputation becomes increasingly hard to shake off, so don’t start down that road. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving up all of your free time to finish a task because you’ve over-promised - it’s more about being open and honest with yourself and your colleagues.