Posts by Aaron:
Changing Your Boring Routine
January 7th, 2010Work, Eat and Sleep.
These are three things that the typical American does every single day. If you don’t have to work, I envy you. If you don’t have to eat, you’re missing out. And if you don’t sleep, please stay away from my house.
You may think that your weeks are boring and long because of work and that may be partially true. If you hate your job, you most likely think your week is boring. Somehow, hate and boring have become molded together to describe most careers. But one of the biggest problems with our weekly routines are the activities that we fill our free time with. A misuse of free time combined with a career that you can’t stand is a deadly combination.
Starting My Career…Again
January 5th, 2010
Back to the drawing board...
[This post was written a week after I quit my job, almost 3 months ago. I think it's a great way to kick off this blog and understand my thought process in starting a new career]
After graduating from college, I envisioned finding the perfect job. All I wanted was a steady, well-paying job. I couldn’t wait to finish college and “start” my life. In college, I had a very flexible schedule which was filled with variety. I remember having a conversation with my roommate about wanting a job just to have a normal routine every day. It turns out that routine isn’t all it was cracked up to be.
My first job was very much a blessing. The people were great, the company was stable and growing and the pay was good. I’m sure there are plenty of my fellow graduates who are still looking for their first “real” job. But with my great opportunity came great confusion. No matter how many internships I had, I really didn’t know what to expect out of my first job. The months went by, and the routine continued. My commute began to grow longer and tolls went up. Some mornings I would arrive at work and forget how I got there. I was basically on autopilot.
I began realizing that this wasn’t exactly what I signed up for. This couldn’t be why I went to school for 17 years, could it? Is this how everyone feels? Is this how the rest of my career would play out? I finally came to the conclusion that it had everything to do with how I was wired, and nothing to do with the job itself. It’s so easy to blame our displeasure on corporate America, but that isn’t an acceptable explanation. I was a recent college graduate ready to take on the world. I didn’t picture myself being able to do that in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. I wasn’t prepared for that.
My wife and I discussed my options. We talked at length about our careers and where we wanted our lives to be in the future. I wondered if there was a point in everyone’s life when we have the opportunity to choose our career path – not in college, but further down the road. I wondered if there was a certain period of opportunity that so many people have let slip away, with some reasons being more dire than others. Then I saw three groups of people. The first group finds a job, enjoys it, and stays with it for a number of years. The second group finds a job, doesn’t enjoy it all that much but gets comfortable and ends up miserable for a number of years. The third group finds a job, finds out that it’s not for them and seeks to find their calling, even though they are stepping out into the unknown.
I found myself in the third group. I also realized that very few people are in this group, especially during a difficult economy. To be fair, some people don’t have the opportunity to leave their job and face the unknown; it’s just not financially smart or possible. But I do believe that there are a lot of people who are simply afraid to step out of their comfort zone and start their dream career. People complain about their jobs, but choose not to do anything about it. If you don’t like your job, you might not be in the wrong place – you may be in the wrong career. Too many people pin the responsibility on their employers and not on their own makeup. We are all engineered to pursue our passions and find a career where our gifts and talents can flourish. It seems like more people choose to do the opposite.
So here I am. I learned a lot in my first job. My writing skills have improved immensely and my confidence has grown. All my experiences in the past year at my job will have a huge impact on my future. Most of all, it gave me the opportunity to view my career in a different light, as a calling. Our jobs are a huge part of our lives, but they shouldn’t run our lives. There are far too many things in this life to enjoy and pursue that aren’t tied up in our jobs.
One thing that we can do is try and find what we are passionate about and make it our career. Of course there are going to be hard days, no matter how much you enjoy your job. But, if we begin to view our careers as our way of using our talents and abilities to pursue our passions, it may not seem so much like a job but more like calling. It might even lead to achieving our dreams.
In high school, my friends and I would eat lunch outside every day. As the summer and fall months passed, the temperatures began to drop and the snow began to fall. For some reason, we all made it a priority that we were going to eat outside, no matter what the conditions were. We ended up sticking to it, and lasted the whole winter and into our senior year. There was something about creating a goal and seeing it come to fruition, even if it made no sense to other people. We called it “Living the Dream.” We’d say it all the time, even when it seemed like it was getting old. For some reason, the phrase always stayed with me.
Oddly enough, I find myself in the same position once again. Leaving a steady job with an established company in an economic downturn doesn’t really make sense to a lot of people. But to have the opportunity to take some time and pursue my passions as a career, to me, is simply my way of Living the Dream.
Who’s with me?