How should one think about a career?
The best advice I got about this was from my first boss in Corporate Land. Lou said, “Don’t trust anyone else with your future.” He went on to explain.
“No one can unconditionally guarantee your livelihood, a promotion, a raise, a specific role. Even people with employment agreements can’t stop a bankruptcy. So we must look after our own future. Each of us makes the decision to stay or go, in any business relationship, day by day.”
If you are to be fully accountable for what your life’s experiences are, particularly in your career, but really in every aspect of life, it means you have to know what you want, first of all. Too often we pick a direction or a career goal without enough thought, research and consideration, especially in our early years when we don’t have enough information to make an informed choice. But after a couple of wrong turns, we begin to understand ourselves better and what we truly want.
Assuming you do know what you want as a career path, now you will find out how hard and long you are willing to work towards achieving what you’ve said you want. This is where a lot of dreams and hopes get dashed. People often don’t really want to go beyond their current limits to achieve that which cannot be accomplished without doing so. And there’s a lot of talk these days about “deserving” a certain work experience, and that a positive professional environment is a “right”. That kind of entitlement thinking just guarantees disappointment, stasis and a victim’s mindset.
If you do push yourself far beyond your comfort zones, put in the time and heroic efforts towards your career goal, there’s no guarantee you’ll achieve what you thought you wanted. The factors outside of your control that determine your life’s experiences can swamp your own efforts. Sometimes all the talent, motivation, commitment, years of work and positive attitude devoted to achieving something is insufficient. There are legions of aspiring musicians who did all the work, are incredibly talented and have not gained notice or earned a living as a musician. There are countless skilled, hard-working entrepreneurs who put their heart and soul into a business venture but didn’t get the big result.
These are the three points on the circle of pursuing a career: 1. What you want, 2. What you are willing to work your butt off for, and 3. What you actually achieve. These three elements are in constant tension as we start and continue our journey of earning a living.
The first awakening is when you find out you’re actually not willing to do what it takes to have a shot at being a professional musician, an artist, an astronaut, the President, a general contractor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a doctor, a tour operator, and so on. The idea of it was the attraction, not the substance, perhaps. Maybe you didn’t realize all the things you would have to do which are not fun. If you do achieve that lofty goal, you may discover that no one is willing to pay for your career, or not enough to live on.
At those points of awakening, you have an opportunity to realign. You can redefine what you think you want, now with more knowledge and experience. You could make a decision to try again, and work harder or take a different approach. You can reduce your income needs so you might be able to live on what others are willing to pay for what you love to do. These are decisions you face when you trust no one else with your future. You have the freedom to choose.
There are people fortunate enough that the three elements align and they achieve what they wanted to, they love what they’re doing and they get paid well enough to have the life they envisioned, right out of the gate. More likely, we face “awakenings” on our journey.
So here’s the crux of the issue. If you want to be “successful” in owning your own future, the work itself needs to be worth the effort, whether or not you achieve what you thought you wanted. You have to like the nature of the work you’re doing. It must be rewarding enough, in and of itself. The money may come, or it may not, but if your satisfaction in the career is dependent on the money, you will be dissatisfied soon, no matter how much you make. Joy in the work itself is the definition of “success”.
This is the same conclusion Buddhists came to a long time ago, i.e., the gift is in the journey, not the destination. So pick a journey of heart.
What is the employer’s part to play? If you’re a leader, accountable for the lives and livelihoods of those who trust you to lead them well, your responsibilities are straightforward:
- Tell people the truth, about their competencies, performance, opportunities, the state of the business and how to earn advancement. Don’t lead them on. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
- Look for ways to help people develop and get experiences along the path they have decided they want to commit to. Remember the first duty above.
- Be a coach to people. Make their development your passionate purpose.
- Be responsible for making decisions and leading well, understanding that your actions have a huge impact on those affected by your authority.
- Demonstrate care and respect in your interactions with people who are relying on your leadership (and everybody else for that matter).
- Tell people they are accountable for their own future, not the organization, and not you personally as a leader. Tell them not to trust you with their future.