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?

Are you truly committed?

Have you given all your Might, Mind, and Strength?

•    Might – Will power, and all you self control
•    Mind – All your mental abilities
•    Strength – All your physical power

When you have committed and give all of the above, you are truly committed.

Ants are truly committed to their cause, regardless of how small it may seem to anyone else. They fully commit to it for their entire existence! They put their entire might, mind, and strength into what they do.

Are we as committed?

What are you truly committed to? Are you really? Now is the time to show it.

Do you know people that just don’t listen to anything? How about people that can’t seem to remember anything their have been told or talked with you about?

Okay so we all know it is important to listen to people when we interact with them. It’s a common trait of people that are desirable to talk to. We will take it as a given that we all understand this, and have dealt with people who don’t listen.

So here is the next thing to go along with that. While your listening, remember what your being told, or conversing about so that you can use it to your advantage later (or protect you from disadvantage). If it is personal you can use that information to give a compliment later, or to flatter. This is really important in personal relationships.

I am talking about work relationships. When your being trained or told how to do something, remember what your being told. This sounds so simple, but it is something that is a big problem in some work places, and sadly at mine. I work with someone who’s job specification is the same as mine. We often work on the same project, and then different ones at the same time. Well, there is a project that I have been working on with this person for a while, about 9 months. This project involves doing the same thing over and over. 78 times to be precise. It takes about 4 days for each cycle of the project.

As it worked out I trained the person I work with how to do the project because they were out when it started. The frustrating thing is that I have had to repeat that explanation at least 30 times over the last several months. I have had them do all of the project from start to finish and many other things with this project, but for some reason there is no recognition as to what we are doing each time we start over. I get asked the same questions over and over. I have tried explaining it many different ways. Nothing sinks in. I now believe that the person I work with has separated work and other parts of their life somehow so that information from work never settles into their permanent memory.

The frustration comes when I have to basically do both of our jobs because of the forgetfulness of my co-worker. I also feel bad for them because they are facing their one year probationary review and they are very likely not going to be made a permanent employee. The sad part of this situation is that because they don’t let anything from work settle in to their memory they are missing the fact that they are regularly held in contempt and are devalued by their boss’s because of their lack of ability to perform at work. They obliviously consider themselves to be doing a perfect job, while they are close to being let go.

So focus, listen, and remember what is going on at work. This is an important skill and trait, and will make a difference in your job performance. What happens at work will definitely affect all areas of your life, so perform well there and other areas of your life will likely improve as well (just be sure your performing well based on other peoples standards and feedback as well as your own).

Is this a situation that your in? Figure out quickly so you can save yourself before your unable to provide any value to your workplace and are replaced.  Do you see this at your own work place?