Build Things and Surround Yourself with Brainy Folks

Happiness is contagious. 

Surrounding yourself with happy people builds confidence and stimulates creativity, and it's flat-out fun. 

Hanging around negative people has the opposite effect -- they want people to join their pity party so that they can feel better about themselves. 

Unless your mentor is a supervisor or someone senior in your organization, the expectation that he/she will make introductions and open doors is a romantic, but misguided, one.

Instead, mentors prefer empowering their mentees to carve out their own opportunities.

Rather than seek out opportunities to repeatedly prove your abilities, look for challenges that may encourage learning and growth.

Look for these opportunities to practice perseverance and learn from mistakes. Over time, a “growth” mindset can become an unconscious respons...