Finish working at 6pm, hit the sack at 12am, and repeat the same thing next day. What did you do in between that? Watching TV? Reading? Playing sports? Many of us believe that our career depends on what we do during the 8 hours in the office and our future, our career progression depends on our boss and the company. But in reality, we are actually on our own. If you found yourselves not progressing in life, you cannot just blame other people or your company for not grooming you.

So what can you do to change your life?

1. What you do every night is important

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, said if he only relies on his working hour to gain skills, he will never become a creative director or a product manager. So what he is relying on is giving himself "lessons". Even most successful people walked on that path. A friend of him is a History graduate but really interested in technical sales. During the day, he does telemarketing. At night, he learns how to code. Finally, he became a vice president of sales in a startup company. Now, he is a CTO!

For them, time is precious and what they do from 6pm until midnight is very important. Of course, work-life balance is important. There's nothing bad spending some time with your family, watching movies or hang out with your friends on weekends. But there are things that you don't have to do such as spending time stalking your high school alumni on Facebook or playing Candy Crush on your phone...

2. Read, anything will do!

If you want to get what you want in life, knowledge is the key. Reading is a great way for you to gain knowledge and it gives you a headstart. Compared to others, you will have more knowledge about other industries and tactics that would be helpful to your company. You can transfer the knowledge within the organization and creates new possibilities. 

3. Do some projects

Apply the knowledge you learnt to a real scenario. If your company do not provide the opportunity, you create opportunities for yourself. Work with a team, you will understand how things work. You'll learn how to perform the task, meet datelines and get feedbacks that you could benefit from. Those experiences are far more valueable than the miserable pay you're getting. Go try new things but don't let this private job affect your work.

4. Build your connections actively

Strong connections network will help you to accelerate everything. It enables you to contact smart friends and learn their opinions, get information that is hard to obtain, help the company to look for more potential partners. You should try to integrate into small groups that are highly relevant to your career. Every week, you could have a drink with new friends! 

5. The change of your life starts TONIGHT

After 6pm is the time you have the chance to switch off your computer and actually free to do anything. Starting TONIGHT, make yourself smarter, stronger and have wider network of connections. Spend one hour every night doing these things and in a year, your career and life will change!

Source: LinkedIn