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Explanation of the importance of the 5 Powers of a Champion in a technical writing career. Also refer to strategy, success, health, energy, knowledge, skill, confidence, excellence, quality, esteem, appreciation, value, motivation, reward, character, honesty, integrity, determination, admired, documentation, technical communication, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

5 Powers of a Champion Technical Writer

by Ron Kurtus (revised 3 September 2006)

A major concept in the School for Champions is that there are five important factors that will help you successfully perform a task or achieve a goal. We call these the 5 Powers of a Champion. By applying these principles, you will perform better as a technical writer and can advance in your career.

Questions you may have include:

• What are the 5 Powers of a Champion?
• What role does each play in my career?
• How can they be applied to advance my career?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

5 Powers

Whenever you set a goal to achieve something, are given a work assignment or are presented with a challenge, five factors are involved in determining whether you will be successful in the activity. These 5 Powers of a Champion are:

• Taking care of your health
• Seeking knowledge and skill
• Being valuable to your supervisor and customers
• Seeking excellence in satisfying the customer
• Having good character traits

Maintaining a positive attitude of applying these powers to your life and career will allow you to succeed in achieving your goals.

Roles in peak performance

Each of these five factors plays a major role in how you will do in your career.

Health

Having good physical, mental and spiritual health will result in greater energy in being able to do your technical writing assignments and in working to advance your career in the field. To be a champion in technical writing, you need to optimize your physical, mental and spiritual health.

Physical health

Writers sometimes abuse their physical health by sitting at their computers too long, drinking too much coffee and not getting enough exercise. You should make sure you take care of yourself. You should also know how to deal with illness or injury by appropriate health care.

Eating well and exercising your body can increase your energy and vitality, allowing you to work better and more effectively.

Mental health

Within the work environment, you want to avoid situations that cause excess stress. Continuous unrealistic deadlines, an overbearing supervisor, and excess criticism can affect your mental or emotional health.

You should be aware of these problems and try to avoid negative situations. Learn to deal with stress and not to sweat the small stuff. If you can't bear the negative atmosphere around you, seek to move on to a healthier emotional environment.

Maintaining a positive mental and emotional atmosphere and getting calming mental relaxation can energize your thinking processes. This will allow you to perform better in your writing tasks.

Spiritual health

Appreciating your blessings and giving thanks for what you have is a positive step in having good spiritual health. It is a difficult subject to explain, but a feeling of spiritual well-being can give you greater peace of mind, which will in turn help in the work you do.

Knowledge and skill

A technical writer must have knowledge of writing standards, software tools, and the subject matter. You must then be able to apply that knowledge as technical writing skills, using the most of your given talent.

Seeking knowledge and skill in your area of work will give you confidence and sureness in your ability to do the job. That skill will also give your employer confidence in you.

Value

Your job should provide value to you in terms of wages and satisfaction. That will give you motivation to work. But to get those rewards, you need to make sure you provide value to your supervisor. The expression goes: "Your job is to make your boss look good." That is a big factor in getting a raise or promotion.

Sometimes the supervisor may value other things besides the work done on a project. Often a good personal relationship is valuable to the supervisor. Technical writers tend to prefer to concentrate on work instead of personal relationships. But a good working relationship is often considered valuable to the boss and should be noted.

Excellence

Doing an excellent job that your customer or supervisor wants, will not only result in their appreciation and judgment of your worthiness, but it will also give you personal pride and increased self-esteem.

When given a writing assignment, it is important to do your best to deliver a quality product on time. Doing your best will give you pride in your work and a feeling of esteem. But more important is to make sure you understand the requirements and specifications from management or the customer. It serves no purpose to do a good job in something that is not what the customer wants.

Knowing the requirements and then doing a good job on time will satisfy the customer. If possible, exceed the expectations of the customer and your boss. Your work should then be appreciated, and you will be looked upon for more good projects.

Character

Positive character traits will take you far. Being courageous to take on difficult tasks and being determined to complete them are signs of a champion. But also, honesty, integrity and reliability are greatly admired by supervisors and fellow workers.

Your character will often determine how far you can advance in your career.

Application

So, how do you apply these 5 Powers of a Champion to advance in your career as a technical writer? It is all a matter of attitude and keeping what is important in your mind.

• Gain physical and mental energy by taking care of your health
• Gain confidence by seeking knowledge and learning skills
• Get the rewards you want by providing value to others
• Be appreciated by doing your best to satisfy your customer
• Be admired by being honest and courageous

Maintain these attitudes to move toward peak performance as a technical writer.

Summary

There are five major factors involved in successfully performing a task or achieving a goal. These 5 Powers of a Champion are health, knowledge, excellence, value and character. Having the mindset of optimizing or applying these powers will help you advance in your career as a technical writer.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Feel the power within you

Resources

The following resources provide information on a writing career.

Websites

Society for Technical Communication

Technical Writing Resources

Books

Top-rated books on Technical Writing

Miscellaneous

Mini-quiz to check your understanding

1. Why is good physical condition important to your career?

2. How can you be valuable to your boss?

3. What is an important character trait for your career?

If you got all three correct, you are on your way to becoming a Champion in Technical Writing. If you had problems, you had better look over the material again.

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5 Powers of a Champion Technical Writer