This isn’t really about running or food…it’s just about me, in honor of the new job I start todaoy! After all, fitness isn’t just about what you eat and what you do with your feet – your head, heart, and bank account play a part as well. Once this is out of the way, I hope to be less preoccupied…thanks for hanging in there with me 
You can skip this one if you don’t want to hear about my last few jobs. No hard feelings.
I started working when I was 15 (truly it was when I was 8, but that requires too much personal explanation for now), so I have had a lot of jobs. During college, I had as many as six jobs at a time, and even after I was out of school I used to work up to 90 hours a week.
I’ll chalk all of that up to a combination of expensive school, crazy overachieving, and an upbringing utterly devoid of financial management skills.
I’m putting all that aside for a walk down the most recent miles of job memory lane, in honor of the new job I start tomorrow.
Four years ago, I had a wonderful job doing research for someone important at my university, partially supervised by the amazing, inspiring, nearly perfect boss I had when I was in school. I got to use all of my research and metadata smarts to create a database and web portal that had a real impact on some academic things related to technology spending. The biggest lessons I took away from that job were:
- Effective time management doesn’t mean pushing yourself to the breaking point.
- Don’t overbook yourself just because someone asks you to do something – they’re not usually implying that you’re not doing enough.
- Always sell the importance of what you’re doing.
Just before that, I was the production manager on a friend’s film. I enjoyed most of it – organizing and planning! – but the outcome was not what I had imagined. I learned an awful lot:
- Buy-in from key stakeholders is far more important than the quality of your plans and ideas.
- Get everything in writing, even if you are working with trusted friends.
- No matter how smart, talented, organized, etc. you are, there are always things beyond your control. There are non-rational behaviors that have to be acknowledged. There are situations that just won’t work, even if everyone is doing their best.
- Don’t give more than you want to give. No one will appreciate it, and in the end you’re only hurting yourself by giving up things that are dear to you.
Next I took a job that I shouldn’t have taken, except that I was burning through my savings because I never got reimbursed for some of the film expenses. It was a necessary stepping stone out of academia and into the “real world” of work…in marketing, which is always a bit surreal. Takeaways:
- Trust your gut. Don’t be desperate for a job. If it seems weird, it’s weird. It’s important, not selfish, to identify “good match for me” vs. “questionable match for me.”
- Car dealers have ways to pad your invoices built into the invoicing software. Buyer beware.
- You probably shouldn’t take a job if they tell you in the interview that you are going to save the team and turn things around and you’re not the manager. Peer pressure only goes so far.
I worked in retail, briefly, because I thought I wanted to. I’m not really sure what I was thinking, but self-defeating behaviors are natural, right? I learned…
- I don’t want to work in retail.
- Just because I liked something once does not mean I will like it again.
So I went back to marketing, this time for a company that was just transitioning out of start-up mode – a tiny, mostly-friends-and-relatives company. We had a culture clash (literal culture clash – they were all from another country, and I’m plain old American). I didn’t ask for the salary that I knew I wanted and deserved up front, and they weren’t sure if they were interested in having a marketing department (made of…me! Just me. Their first and, I believe, only.). Lessons:
- You can’t do much very well or very quickly if you don’t have support from your supervisor. This lack of support may or may not have something to do with you – if you can’t make any progress after several months and can’t get any feedback, it’s hard to overcome. (Tips are welcome, though.)
- You can only manage things that either want to be managed or are being forced to be managed. Managing part of a group of friends when you’re 10 years younger than anyone else and they have never had a manager before is not going to go smoothly. No one should expect it to.
- Some people might never respect you, no matter how good you are at your job, how much work you do, and how much your supervisor appreciates what you do. If you’re doing your best, it might be time to find a different route.
A more sophisticated job fell in my lap, then went from contract to perm. I was doing web work, but not exactly marketing…20% design, 50% customer service, 30% project management. I loved what I did and knew I was making a difference, really helping people. It’s hard to explain why I left; the shortest summary is that there was a cultural mismatch, and to succeed I would have had to become someone I didn’t want to be and give up things that matter to me. I know folks do that for their jobs, but I’m not ready or willing to do that. Nonetheless, I am really grateful for the opportunity I had there. What I’m taking with me:
- I worked hard in school and early jobs to become who I am and develop the skills and habits that I have, and I am willing to learn, change and grow. However, I’m not willing to give up or ignore what I’ve cultivated.
- I enjoy organizing, planning, and developing solutions.
- Perfect on paper doesn’t always translate to perfect in real life; you might not be able to explain what’s wrong to people far-removed from the situation, but that doesn’t mean your experience is lying to you.
So that is how far I’ve come in five years; I’ve got even farther to go before I’m done.
When I was younger, I wanted to be a vet and an architect. I spent most of my formative years training to be a concert violinist. When I moved away from that, I swore I’d always work for a non-profit, that I’d never work in an office, and that I’d always have to do something creative. I’m neither a vet nor an architect and I’ve broken all those “rules”, so perhaps my biggest strength is my willingness to grow and re-evaluate, and to capitalize on the opportunities that I create (and that show up on my doorstep)
I might not be the person I thought I’d be 10 years ago, but I’m darn happy to be where I am in my life and doing what I’m doing. Every time I make a change, I learn something new and get a bit closer to doing “the perfect thing”, whatever that is – even if it has nothing to do with my job title.
(If you like, there’s a running lesson in here, too – you might not follow the path you think you’re going to follow on your fitness journey, but you will end up somewhere good if you keep learning, trying, and growing. Little detours and speedbumps are important tests of mettle; without them, accomplishments would mean a lot less. Think about it – the satisfaction of walking onto a course and running a 21 minutes 5k without any training? Doesn’t sound as sweet as finishing in 25 minutes after working for months, maybe years. There are exceptions, of course…I’m just waxing general here.)
I’m really excited to go off to my new job! I won’t be updating until tonight (though I hope to be able to update at lunch once I’m settled in), but I hope to give you a glimpse into the crazy organizing that went into quelling my anxiety/excitement about this big change. Wish me luck!