From Forbes/MSNBC.com comes this article titled “How to Survive Your First Week At Work.” Among the helpful hints:

• Learn people’s names
• Be nice

That’s … about it. There are a lot more words, but that’s what it boils down to. Learn people’s names and be nice. Come on - Forbes can’t do better than this? These two tidbits might be enough to help you survive your first week - but they won’t help you thrive, nor will they help you distinguish yourself, much less advance your career. This is a good example of what I’d call “minimally acceptable standards.” This is the least you want to do!

What can you do to thrive?

• First of all, leave your preconceptions at the door. Open up your mind to a new culture - not just a new way of doing familiar tasks, but a new way of doing business (whatever your business happens to be). Take awhile to observe the many ways that culture expresses itself in the workplace.

• Don’t feel you have to “fit in” immediately. Folks anticipate some adjustments on both sides of the new employee equation in the first few weeks. The corollary to this: don’t feel you need to change to fit in, ever. Remember: they saw something they liked in you - the you that presented so well at that interview!

• Expect to be overwhelmed. There will be a lot of stuff coming at you quickly. The best way to cope? Adopt what the Zen masters call “beginner’s mind” - that fertile mental space that’s just ready to be planted with new info. Don’t anticipate the answers - stay open to receiving instruction. Rely on your innate curiosity and inquisitiveness.

• Learn all you can about the place - before Day 1. You did research to get the job - now do some research to figure out the workplace atmosphere. Best sources: former employees who left recently. Second best sources: current employees’ relatives and friends. (Current employees themselves, while arguably in the best position to know exactly “what it’s like” are going to feel compelled to tout the party line or alternatively won’t want to color your experience with theirs.) Other sources: vendors and customers.

• Adopt the attitude of the intern. Think about the lowly intern. The vastly underpaid (if paid at all) underling who gets all the muck assignments. The best ones not only accept such tasks cheerfully - they ask for them. I’m not suggesting you volunteer to empty the trash nightly, but you will find the sloggy tasks that no one wants to do easily enough. Show you’re willing to do the stuff that’s arguably “not my job” and you’re showing your boss and coworkers you’re in it for the long haul.

• Take some time to study the organizational chart. Understanding the “who reports to who” is crucial to “getting” the big picture of your new company. Along with the chain of command, you can integrate information you begin to pick up on what your coworkers’ primary tasks and areas of responsibility are. Knowing “who handles that” can mean the difference between standing out and standing around with a hopelessly-lost look on your face.

I believe emphatically that we all pretty much get what we set out to get - what we think about, give focus to, and aim for. Aim for survival, that’s about all you’ll end up getting. Why not shoot for the stars? Even if you miss, you’ll land on the moon. And what a view from way up there.