Winner of Golden Globe awards, SAG awards, and likely several Oscars, The Fighter is a brisk-paced movie about Micky Ward, the one-time boxing champion.
Actor Mark Wahlberg plays Ward in the lead role; Christian Bale steals the show as the boxer’s colorful brother Dickie.
Between knockouts, greed, and drugs, The Fighter offers several important career lessons:
Choose a life partner who supports your career choices.
Micky Ward’s wife in the movie is portrayed as a spouse who supports her husband’s career choice, despite its endemic risks (permanent injury, sporadic payday, etc.).
It’s hard to stay positive, productive, and proactive through every leg of a career journey. Having a partner who believes in you and pushes you to improve can actually help you succeed. We could all use a cheerleader, and if you’re lucky, your spouse will take on that role.
Listen to advice, but make your own decisions.
There’s no shortage of career advice blogs, job counselors, and other people who are willing to share their opinions on how to achieve career success. Family members are usually the first people we turn to for career advice—after all, who knows us better? And soliciting feedback on work situations from a third party is critical to career success.
But I can’t think of a more individual journey than climbing up the corporate ladder. Only you know what you want out of work. Seek opinions, but filter them, and know that it’s ultimately your call, your life. Micky was under the tutelage of his mother and brother for far too long. It wasn’t until he stood up for himself, in part because of a supportive spouse, that his career really took off.
Read the rest of my post at U.S. News and World Report.
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