Professional success starts with developing the knowledge and skills needed in your chosen field and then applying them with persistence and resilience to effectively pursue activities that have an impact. Depending upon the specific position to which you are appointed, the balance of skills will vary, but all medical school faculty should be facile in teaching the next generation and in pursuing scholarly activities that advance their discipline, whether in research, education, clinical care, public service, or combinations thereof. Although you should balance your time among the missions, you should determine which of them stimulate your passion the most and lead with those, leveraging the others to support that priority. A high degree of self-awareness is important for your professional growth because it will help you to define those areas in which you have particular strengths and will allow you to work on those in which you wish or need to improve.