What will you become if you keep doing what you’re doing?
We’re one week into the new year and everyone is back in the office.
This got me thinking.
Career is something you probably thought carefully during school years, something your parents sold you on, or something you saw your friends doing and thought you should do too. No matter the reason, true calling is something people still kill their brains over and will probably still do for a long time. While each of us is bound to settle at some point for a form or another of paid work, we can at least give the choice a thoughtful consideration.
Here the thing: Don’t do it for what you get, but for what you become.
I’m in no way saying that money is not important, go and ask for what you’re worth. What I’m saying is that monetary remuneration is subject to economic and social changes, while there are a couple of solid principles that will stand the test of time and can make or break you and your career.
- If you’re the average of the 5 people you’re spending the most time with, probably all of those show up at the same workplace as you. And if you’re not unlike most of us, you’re probably spending around 8 hours, 5 days a week with these folks, people that you interact with on a daily basis, share thoughts, exchange ideas, even become good friends with some of them. If Jim Rohn was right, then you’re the average of your designated team. Are you part of the right entourage?
- The way you do anything is the way you do everything. Make a routine of avoiding tasks you don’t enjoy at work and soon enough you’ll find yourself dodging responsibilities at home, ditching on your friends more and more often, and so on.
- You become what you repeatedly do.
And I had to learn this lesson the hard way. Some time ago I realized how much finesse I gave up during a 2 years “social hiatus”, time spent in front of my computer, sometimes 12 hours at a time with little or no human interaction during the day. Time flies by and I find myself almost unable to deliver a 2-minute speech to a familiar audience, an activity that would have been a breeze in the past. There was no way in the world I’d become a better speaker by shutting up all day long. Just like there’s no way you’re becoming anything else than what you’re doing 50% of every waking hour during any given working day.
In the end, what we need to keep in mind is that we’ve spent around 15+ years in school but we’re now attending the biggest class yet. After 50+ years we will ultimately become more like our job than school or home education.
If you’re lucky you’ll be able to influence the office environment just as much as you’re shaped by it. Be responsible.
P.S I’ll take this chance to thank all of those that make the office a better place for me to be.