Part Three of what I learned in Dr. John Maxwell's "Leadership in Challenging Times" seminar:

Dr. Maxwell gives three foolproof pieces of advice for getting ahead in your career. Warning: Will contain hard work.

1. Do a bit more than the average person

Dr. Maxwell advocates getting to work early, having a 30 minute lunch and staying a bit late.

"I'm amazed at how many people are in love with the average," he says.

Average is what you do not want to be.

Jeffrey Fox, another author, actually has an equation for this.

He says to come in 45 minutes early to do prep work and leave 15 minutes late to finish up.

Not only does this create a good impression, doing prep and cleaning up actually prepares you for a productive work day.

Industriousness, coupled with strategic thinking, makes for an excellent employee, and excellent employees are oftentimes acknowledged.

2. Everyday, do something for your coworkers that is not expected of you

"Instead of trying to compete with others, complete others."

That piece of advice will probably go against every bone in your body, even the funny ones.

After all, isn't everyone supposed to pale in comparison to your glowing record of good conduct?

No. First of all, that's succumbing to the crab mentality.

Second, you're just going to make everyone hate you.

Everyone, except those with the blackest of hearts, wants the good guy to succeed.

Besides, if you get promoted, you want everyone on your side.

They're going to be the, forgive my quote, "wind beneath your wings."

Being nice is not something you can force though.

People can smell "plastic" a mile away and being known as a plastic person is worse than being known as a mean one.

3. Ask for a 10 minute appointment with the owner of the company

This is a tricky one.

I myself don't know if there's wisdom in doing this (lest you be accused of brown-nosing, among others) but Dr. Maxwell claims that the people who've done it have had excellent results.

The meeting should be short, because your boss is busy and you don't want to take up his time.

You introduce yourself, thank him or her for giving you the opportunity to work in the company, give him or her your cellphone number and tell him that if s/he needs anything business-related done, s/he can call you anytime. Then leave.

Your boss may never call you to do anything, but you will certainly have left an impression.

Again, I'm not sure how the third item will work in the Philippine setting, but just doing the first and second ones will help you get ahead in work.

At the very least, it will make you a better person.