Brother Neal Cox’s 13 Hints to Career Success

Brother Neal Cox’s 13 Hints to Career Success

• Family first. Don’t forfeit what is most important.
• Prepare before opportunity knocks. Do all you can to be prepared to give service to people.
• Be willing to start at ground level.
• Do more than is expected.
• Invite others to help.
• Try new things. Especially when you see a need for it.
• Don’t value security more than service.
• Leave it better than you found it.
• Don’t measure success by fame or fortune.
• Deflect praise to others.
• If you don’t love it, leave it.
• Don’t fear those in power.
• Sprout deep roots. Wherever you go, assume that you’ll be there forever. Don’t plan your life so far in advance that you don’t enjoy the now. Live in the present and sprout deep roots wherever you go. Do all you can; don’t just be tentative.

Let me talk for a moment about a couple of these hints. First, I’d like to talk about Hint #1: Family first. I have heard a lot lately about the importance of putting the family as the first priority. I heard from J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr. (not an updated link. google J.W. Marriott BYU April 3 for a better result in the future), Elder M. Russell Ballard, and President Boyd K. Packer about the importance of putting the family first. When you have your priorities in the correct order, with your family at the top of that list, everything else will fall into place. Family, then the Lord, then career, as Mr. Marriott said today.  When you have your priorities in that order, everything will work out for the best.

I would also like to talk about Hint #11: If you don’t love it, leave it. I think that oftentimes, people get caught up in the mindset of “I’m in this major because I will be able to earn a lot of money” or “I’m going to be a lawyer because lawyers make a lot of money” or “I’m going to be a doctor because that’s what my parents want me to do”. These are all bad mindsets. You should only do the things you love. I am not a very good example of this — I find it difficult to find ‘my passions’ that people are always telling me to find. However, I did decide to major in sociology because I loved learning it, and not because it would take me somewhere great. In fact, I still don’t exactly know what I’m going to do with my future sociology degree, but I do know that I absolutely love studying it, and so I’m going to keep studying it. I am doing it because I love it, and there’s no other reason. There should be absolutely nothing stopping you from doing what you love. If what you love isn’t going to lead to a career that guarantees a high income, so what? If you work hard enough, you can still live the life you want while doing the things you love.

Brother Cox is an inspirational leader. He has an amazing, unceasing capacity to love those around him, and he clearly exhibits that love. He cares so much about the students at BYU and about people he meets in any situation or capacity. If you ever get the chance to talk with Neal Cox, seize the opportunity! He is an amazing man whom I will not soon forget.