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5 Reasons Your First Job Doesn’t Have to Be Awesome

May 25, 2015

Sometimes recent graduates from high school or from college can get stuck on the thought that their first job has to be awesome. Awesome pay. Awesome hours. Awesome people.

If you find yourself caught up in this kind of thinking its not going to help you move forward. Holding onto these expectations of awesomeness may cause you to miss out on great opportunities.

A first job doesn’t have to be awesome. A first job, even one that doesn’t pay a lot, gives you more than a paycheque; it gives you  opportunities to:

 

1.  Build up your work ethic. Show up, ready, on time. Learn how to bring a good attitude, even when you don’t have it. In other words you learn to be professional.

 

2. Figure out how to relate to a boss. You are going to have to figure out what your employer wants and how to deliver good service without losing your soul and identity to their good days and bad days.

 

3. Develop your people skills. Learn how to relate to customers or clients, fellows employees or work group members. Get to know what happens inside of you in a variety of situations.

 

4. Learn how to add value to an organization or company by aligning yourself with its mission and values.

 

5. Earn some money and learn how to pay the bills.

 

Finally, its a plus, when your first job gives you the opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge sets that can add to your career development. It’s possible to be more than a “cog in the machine.” As you settle in and show yourself to be responsible, ask for and accept responsibilities. That’s when a first job becomes awesome.

 

 

Career, Work

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Confusion… before you are ready to learn.

May 25, 2015 0 Comments

Just before you are ready to expend the energy to learn, you may find that you are actually confused. This feeling of being out of balance, of not knowing exactly what to aim at, or where to start, is important to your growth.

You do have to name the “confusion.” Is the confusion sourced by pain over the past, a lack of clarity about personal vision, or is it the flood of recognition, “I just realized I have a lot to learn”?

Knowing that you don’t know something is a gift. Because once you identify what you don’t know and establish the conviction that you do want to learn it… you can develop a plan for growth.

 

The best leaders lean into their disequilibrium. Instead of panicking, these leaders know the fog will clear as they discover more about this new topic, new job, or new reality. They will figure out what they don’t know. When they know they don’t know something they develop a plan of learning. They will find some books, a course, and some people capable to coach, teach, and help. Sometimes they just dive in, get busy, and learn along the way.

Growth oriented people actually welcome the confusion of “not knowing.” They know its a prerequisite to the success they hope for on the horizon just beyond them.

Are  you retreating from your confusion or are you leaning into it?

Change, Leadership

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100 Days After Graduation

May 21, 2015 0 Comments

Go ahead put a mark on your calendar. What do you hope will be true 100 days after graduation from college or university?

And now I must say “Congratulations!“ Because of my work, I get really excited about the graduates at UBC! You have joined a small and elite segment of the world. If the world population was 100 people, only you only and six other people would have a college education! You have had a wonderful opportunity to learn, make some friends, and build up some identity capital. You are truly blessed!

100 days. That’s a summer break. But this year you may want to be doing something else at the end of it. Unless you are pursuing more education, the pathway is not laid out for you any more.  Maybe you anticipated this ambiguous reality. Maybe you didn’t.

Anyway, look ahead. Mark 100 days on the calendar. Answer the question: What do I hope is true at the end of the next 100 days?

This little exercise isn’t meant to create fear and dread. But it is meant to help you examine your expectations. This self-leadership exercise will help you get a reality check and then reverse engineer your activities for the next 100 days.

For some, having an extended and carefree holiday may be in the cards.

For others though, your desires may require more diligent work.

Perhaps you are having trouble coming up with an answer to the question. Talk it out with someone; not someone who is going to tell you what to do. But instead talk it out with someone who is going to ask questions and then listen for what’s on your mind and in your heart.

100 Days.

Graduation

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