After spending the first 20 years of our lives learning, the vast majority of us must then spend the remainder of our lives earning. Choosing the ideal career path can be daunting, especially when we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity. Even if we only consider the career paths that were generated over the past 20 years – not to mention the past 100 years – it is amazing any of us are able to choose.
That said, there are still people in this world who, early on, have the luxury of knowing their purpose in life and easily pick careers that allow them to fulfill it. I’m not one of those people, and I imagine most of you aren’t, either.
So how do we decide? A couple of givens: we don’t want to invest the majority of our waking hours hating our jobs. It’s also impossible to be successful if we have no aptitude for the job requirements (who wants to work hard and never improve?).
I recently attended a seminar that shed some light to the issue of career enrichment. One of the most poignant insights revolved around the idea of contribution. In a nutshell – the greater the contribution, the greater the reward.
For me, this notion goes back to the basics my parents taught me at a young age: first, attitude is everything; second, give more than you get; third, be yourself.
• Attitude: By maintaining a positive attitude and channeling my emotions for the sake of productivity, I can overcome the vast majority of the kind of stress that causes burnout. I’m also a more pleasant colleague; I choose to be a fountain versus a drain.
• Give more than you get: When I over-deliver at work, I know that I’m always putting my best foot forward. There is tremendous reward in knowing I put my all into a project. If I’m truly passionate about what I’m doing, my dedication to the tasks at hand and to my teammates will only further my personal goals.
• Be yourself: No two people are the same, and that’s a great thing. By honoring my individuality, I add value to the team by bringing forth unique ideas and problem solving strategies. This is best summed up in a quote by George S. Patton, “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
Another tip I learned was to write down ways I can take my career to the next level. Some ideas include:
• Create a strategic career plan. What is my market value today and what will it be in five years?
• Become multifaceted. Add new skills and disciplines every year and diversify myself within my profession.
• Get involved in my company and go outside my department to make connections.
The tactics certainly aren’t foolproof, so I invite you to pick what works for you and toss out the rest.
I’ll leave you with this quote from the great John D. Rockefeller III:
“The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it, every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.”
