Mentors can assist you with charting your career path, but you must remain at the helm of your life and career. After all, you know yourself better than anyone you meet during the course of your work. It is your responsibility to make goals for yourself and take steps to achieve them.

Some surprising conclusions about the workplace include:

• Mentors, with their own motives, can disrupt and even harm your career. 
• Bad body odor or bad breath will interfere with your career success.
• Rather than indiscriminately network on social media outlets such as LinkedIn, selectively respond to a few contacts who can help you in particular. Then, build and maintain relationships with the interested parties.
• Sponsors are as important as mentors to your career development; they champion your cause and talk about how great you are because you have been helpful to them with no agenda of your own. Sponsors can help you get promoted.
• Everyone has the same amount of time; use it wisely to optimize your life. 
• If you are getting mediocre performance reviews, it may be time to start looking for another job. One common mistake is that people remain at a job for too long. 
• When obtaining an education, consider the career prospects for any degree that you might earn.
• Hard work alone will not necessarily get anyone's attention; you need to advocate for yourself and ask for what you want and need. 
• Being physically fit makes you more healthy and energetic in the workplace (also, lower healthcare costs).
• Failure is necessary in order to achieve success. It is painful, but it allows for personal growth. Like your work more than you hate failure. 

"Remember: it's boring to be average, so go ahead and light the world on fire." —Debby Carreau

The Mentor Myth: How to Take Control of Your Own Success by Debby Carreau, 2016

This is awesome book. Although I was initially skeptical, I managed to look beyond the title and give this book a try. I love my mentor, and I enjoy mentoring others.

• Debby Carreau's web site
• Books on business