Thinking of a career frightens me. I am kind of ironic. I love hard work. Producing worth while things is a passion of mine. I love helping people. I love to focus on something for long and intense periods of time.
I am also a huge scardy cat when it comes to committing to something for a long period of time. A career? That is a big commitment. I worry that a career is a hole that I will fall into and not ever to be able to get out of. I’m afraid that it will rule my life forever, that I won’t be able to change a thing.
Good news! If all those things happened to me it would be my fault not the careers. A career isn’t a gaping chasm that is waiting for people to devour. Career is something that we as people develop and use to advance ourselves and what we do in this life. Okay I am getting a bit tender hearted now. This post is actually mostly for me, not for all of you who have moved into this gladly and are telling me to stop crying.
So really a career is good for us. It is a path we can use to develop ourselves and to help others.
Helping others is really important actually. That is something that we improve ourselves by doing in exponential ways rather than just step wise. I am dang glad that I am helping people at least a little bit in my little career as a scientist. With time if I am lucky I can become a Mad Scientist!
So here are some thoughts on making the most of a career.
- Don’t think of it as “this job” only. We are likely to have more than one job. We are likely to have already had more than one job. So consider how your jobs have shaped you in the past. Were they good for you? What did you learn? What is this job going to teach you? How are you going to use this job to further develop yourself and your career?
- Think of your entire career as a process of self development. Your career can be a lot more than just a job or series of jobs. It can be something that transforms you into your ultimate self. So think, is it just a job or is it the next step towards your ideal self?
- Your career is a huge symphony, or piece of art. What do you want it to be or say when you’re all done? What is your passion? Are you working toward improving the world? You don’t have to do a huge thing. Just think about how you can make a difference and where you can make a difference. Then can be part of career, to gradually make that happen.
- In what ways are you going to improve the lives others? You can do that in any job. Offer great service if you’re in that realm. Develop something more than just a widget for people to buy. Make that widget in a way that makes people lives better. Maybe your career will be all about empowering others to accomplishments they wouldn’t have been privileged to without it.
- Always be honest, fair, and devoted. It’s okay to work smarter and harder than anyone else, to totally outdo the competition. We live in a competitive world to say the least! But whatever you do in your career do it honestly, and put your work in where it is due. If you do this you will be able to sleep good at night and know that your career will be one that you can always be proud of for the right reasons.
- If you can do all the above then the desirable things will definitely come to you in the process of time. You will get the paychecks you need to survive. You can do what you really want to. You career will be something you come to truly love, and it will inspire others because you did these things, not because they are in love with your profession. They will be inspired by you the person that made it all happen.
So today I am bit less apprehensive about a career. I think I have come to grips with the fears I have with a career. I am not giving up my freedom, but am actually developing it and giving it wings by working towards bigger and better things.
What are you doing with yourself today?
