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Have you found it?

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Questions.

What do you want to do?

What do you want to be when you grow-up?

What’s your dream job?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

While the questions can be interpreted with different time horizons, they all focus on the core of who I am. These questions help me to think about motivators in my life as well as what provides emotional reward. The questions could be rephrased as “who are you, what gets you up in the morning, and why are you here?”

Answers.

I’ve heard some acquaintances answer with specific jobs or titles. They want to be a doctor, lawyer, pilot, etc. Then there are a group of friends who are motivated to switch their careers to something different. They may answer with stated goals to start a business or to go back to school to become a nurse. Others I know, answer in terms of what they don’t want to be doing because they haven’t determined what they do want to be doing. Someone once told me, “I don’t want to manage people. I don’t want to deal with their problems because I have enough of my own.” They were happy using their skills as an individual contributor.

My experience is our answer to the question will change over time as we learn more about ourselves. We determine what we do and don’t like. But over time, we also find more about what we value and what motivates us to work.

Meaning.

I’ve written in the past that I’m one of those odd people that went to college and never changed majors. I declared Computer Science as a course of study before I stepped foot on campus. At graduation, I walked across the stage to receive the paper with Computer Science written on it and I’ve been working in technology ever since. Here’s the thing, I loved my studies. I’ve loved my job assignments. I don’t feel like I’ve ever ‘worked’ because my days are filled with completing tasks I enjoy. I’m doing what I was wired to do.

Look for it!

As I’ve gained more experience (can I say matured?), I’ve adjusted my answer to the question “what do you want to do?” Now, I answer the question in terms of connecting people together with solutions provided by technology. It’s like a mission statement, “I connect people through systems and solutions”.  I enjoy working with technology components like servers, networks, and software. But I’ve come to realize what I’m really doing is connecting people with solutions to make their world a little easier. People are the ‘why’. Technology is the ‘how’. I still love to create. I love to solve puzzles. I love to experiment, dabble, and search for better ways of doing things (continuous improvement). These things make me smile. 🙂

Have you found it?

Have you found what gives you satisfaction such that you don’t consider working work? Look for it. Search for it. Find it.

Onward and upward!

Photo Credit: Larry Smith – Look! Via creative commons – https://flic.kr/p/c2yKFS

Have your job to the full

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Abundant life.

I recently read a verse in the gospel of John (10:10) about having life to the full, or an abundant life. There’s an attraction to define a fully abundant life in terms of positive and uplifting things; Hopes, dreams, successes, comforts, good health, wonder, and joy.

But when I thought about this concept a little more, it became apparent that a full life really means a complete life. A full life isn’t void of challenges, setbacks, failures, discomforts, poor health, and learning. These are natural events we all experience. If I consider the full collection of events in my life, I see a more full and abundant experience.

What about an abundant work life?

I believe the same principle applies to my career. Having my job to the full, or having an abundant work life, means there will be days when I love my job and days when I am uncomfortable with it. There will be times of accomplishment, reward, and achievement. There will also be times of failure and setback.

A complete work-life includes deeper experiences such as servanthood, humility, courage, disappointment, and frustration. My acceptance of the spectrum of experiences determines just how much I accept the concept of having a job to the full. I love the work I do; All of it.

Onward and upward!

Hope @work

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“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson

Hope is the great motivator in our world. It gives us anticipation and an expectation for some desirable result. President Woodrow Wilson spoke of the spirit of hope in 1913 while addressing a group of college students. His hope was to inspire the next generation to leave the world a better place than they found it.

A few weeks ago, I watched the movie Dunkirk from director Christopher Nolan and I found the presentation of the historical events in the movie deeply moving. The film’s characters reacted to their situation in a variety of ways. Some exhibited a great hope for survival and acted courageously while others felt hopeless and resorted to acts of cowardice and selfishness.

I considered the role hope plays in an office environment:

  • Workers hope for advancement and it motivates them to go beyond their job description.
  • Workers hope to close a sale and it inspires them to create solutions that never existed for a customer.
  • Workers hope to create a new product and it drives them to consider new ways of thinking.
  • Workers hope for a job in a different field and it inspires them to train and study new skills.

The ability to influence actions is powerful. That’s what hope does. While people have different hopes based on their situation, one thing is the same. All of us are driven to action when we have a strong hope for a different tomorrow. Hope is the great equalizer that can help someone who is less skillful or knowledgeable out-perform a competitor. Where there is hope there is achievement.

May the hope be with you.

Onward and upward.

 

Work for something bigger

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“Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed just make your absence felt.” – Unknown

I pinned these words on my board at work because they describe a work ethic I see in some people. I admire colleagues that create work as an extension of themselves rather than an object that is simply sold for purchase. These are workers who approach their craft thinking about relationships, processes, and flow. They understand and realize they are a single player in a team sport. They recognize the value that all team members bring to the effort and they don’t value their own work higher than what others contribute.

Technical skills such as programming and configuration are important. But technical skills are replaceable. There is always another programmer for-hire to write code. But real value is added when we create work with the customer in-mind more than our individual gain. Real value is added when we step out of our own box to help others be successful because we genuinely want to see them succeed.  This is what it means to live for a cause and to express an ideal bigger than ourselves.
Onward and upward!

My Labor Day Reflection

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Labor Day is a tribute to the contributions American workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The US Congress designated the first Monday in September as a holiday in June of 1894. On this Labor Day, after completing a do-it-yourself home fix-up project, I reflected on my day-off from work.LaborDay

A look behind me.

I appreciate past relationships with co-workers and managers because the experiences with them shaped and molded my professional career. When I think about my past teams, I am reminded about interactions, coachable moments, managerial decisions, and putting laborers in the right job to contribute to team results.

I appreciate my first manager who hired me after college graduation. He gave me a chance. He extended trust and let me establish a work routine. I appreciate the manager that removed me from an assignment when I was failing and repositioned me to an assignment where I could both succeed and mature. I appreciate the co-worker that approached work with zeal and creativity. Her example opened my mind to see new possibilities for work assignments and inspired me to reach higher.

A look ahead of me.

Can I help others achieve more by using my experience as a guide? Can I improve team output by examining job assignments and organizational layouts to make sure that laborers are in the proper assignments and working on the most important tasks? Am I building team unity?

To contribute to my portion of the team load I need to make sure I’m still learning and continuously improving through self-inspection. One of the reasons I write each week is to reflect on events and ideas that shape my life journey. I believe that my achievement come as the result of the collective effort of those on my team. I must carry my weight on the team by being prepared.

So happy Labor Day to you and me. The fruits of our labor are sweet tasting. But the journey of our labor is not yet complete.

Onward and upward!

Photo Credit: LPHR Group via Creative Commons