#18 Baton Rouge, LA
"Greatness is sifted through the grind, therefore, don’t despise the hard work now for surely it will be worth it in the end.”– Sanjo Jendayi
The transition:
Let me rewind to April 2015, I was working for a small real estate company making decent money. I was offered a position with my current employer and accepted the offer. I spent the first six months mesmerized by my career. I loved the freedom it gave me, the sense of confidence it forced me into. I admired the team I worked with and for. The first six months was a cake walk in the eyes of a corporate world.
Then Christmas came, people began to leave, things began to change and panic really struck a chord with me. I wasn’t growing, I felt confident in my career but only because I had studied so diligently the things I was expected to know. It wasn’t a downfall of the company or even myself. But, for a twenty-three-year-old fireball, I really felt like I began to plateau.
My original reaction was to get the heck out of dodge. In my exit interview, I even said: “I feel like I have stopped growing and that really scares me.”
If you are wondering how this story ends, I was only out of the company for 3 weeks. I had to go through the hiring paperwork all over again and have some pretty tough conversations. But, one month later here I am, back with the same company, lounging on my bed in Austin, Texas.
Being a millennial in a corporate world is hard. Our brains function at a completely different level of accountability, speed, and tolerance. I don’t have any secrets to surviving your post-college adventures.
But, what I can say is there are 3 main things I learned from my release and catch point that I believe anyone stuck in a rut at work can take from.
- You aren’t entitled to anything- We were raised in a decade where everything comes to us quickly. We jump into careers and expect promotions in the first 3 months. We are riskier, more demanding and ultimately less grateful. The career you have chosen keeps your mouth fed, a roof over your head, clothes on your body and fun in your life. It doesn’t owe you anything and neither does the company you work for. Great promotions and awards are not owed to you… they are earned by you.
- It’s not supposed to be a cake walk- I never realized how much I hate growing pains. My parents got divorced at six years old and since then, I don’t know if I have ever stuck around somewhere long enough to work through the really painful parts. Your company just like any relationship is going to stretch you a little bit. There are going to be times where you feel like everything is coming down. Other times you may feel like everything you are saying is falling on deaf ears. Sometimes, the best answer is to leave. But, there are also times when we need to recognize that growing hurts and part of life are learning to work through those rough patches.
- Your career isn’t a software update: For as long as I can remember I have been punching away at the keyboard. I used to think my dial up AOL internet was fast. But, here we are a decade later and the thought of a page taking 1 minute to load makes us cringe. I think, we do this so often with our careers. We see the bug fixes, we correct them and we expect an automatic difference. It is important to remember that your career isn’t a software update. It is a blessing and a curse that our generation is so fast paced because we expect everything to keep up with us. While you might learn some things quick, you are still learning… no matter how rapid of a speed. Good things take time and change both personal and companywide can’t be made overnight.
I realize that we are a generation full of talent and charisma. We believe in everything we do so deeply and it is hard to stay humble. But, humility in the workforce transfers over to gratefulness and fullness with your life. Our passions, careers, and the care in between no matter how old, should never be mistaken for a quick paced project.
