5 CAREER LESSONS THAT STRENGTHEN RESILIENCE (NOT JUST RÉSUMÉ)
The picture of Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill used to make me laugh...until I realized it was me.
…ALMOST THERE
Someone recently asked me if I could remember a time when I wasn't pushing.
At first, I couldn't.
Then I remembered the joy I felt my first two years playing soccer and baseball - before sports started to represent another performance arena.
I always thought I loved playing sports growing up.
I think I did love some elements of it.
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I'll never forget my happiness when my basketball team beat our rival high school.
My best friend Matt had transferred to our rivals after 8th grade as Regis had a better sports program than Salem Academy...
On second thought, maybe it was schadenfreude I felt upon winning. (Favorite German word)
I still wake up in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat, in the middle of a game - sometimes lighting up the scoreboard, other times unable to find the net.
I'm not a psychologist but I'm pretty sure the dream is about reaching/not reaching one’s potential…
Fortunately, I’m usually fulfilling mine in recent playing dreams.
I once read that what drove John McEnroe to success wasn't his love of winning. Rather, he hated losing.
I could relate.
This got me thinking about my strong goal orientation –
“Have I spent my life hating myself into accomplishment?”
I don’t know about that, but playing to not lose is never a good idea.
I do think that when success becomes the goal, you've lost the point of the game.
Here are 5 resilience-building lessons over my 30-year career journey:
Lesson 1: If winning is your motivation, you can’t enjoy playing.
Work isn't the same as sport but can feel like a game or competition at times.
How did you feel when you got your first professional job?
I was pretty excited.
It felt like I had made a solid start to the career game.
Fortunately, I got out of the Finance industry before I sold my soul to the corporate job.
Nevertheless, my plan was to jump right back in after my year overseas.
Life had other plans...I caught the travel bug.
My year teaching English abroad turned into three…then four, with trips around Australasia.
You could say I got sidetracked, and never really got back on track. The corporate one, anyway.
Man plans, God laughs. (Favorite proverb)
Lesson 2: Curiosity is your guide and compass – it won’t mislead you.
Ideally, the definition of success starts to change with each milestone and key learning.
Sometimes a bit of distance can help.
With peers working towards mortgages and MBAs during the 1990’s tech revolution, my “fear of missing out” was big.
Yes, there’s such as thing as work FOMO.
It took me years to value my cross-cultural experience.
Eventually I was able to recognize my unconventional career path as an asset.
However, the drive to set and achieve goals never left me.
Of course, there are times in your career when you're in the flow and others when you're out of sync - work parallels life that way.
10 years ago I was traversing the globe for a high-profile development program that felt like getting a spot on Friends, if I'd been an actor.
With a week in Brazil, one in Mexico and another in the US, I was fully embracing the international travel.
Two and a half years later I was flying economy class again.
Lesson 3: Unless you learn to surf, each new wave knocks you down.
Although just as goal oriented as ever, I’m more aware of the drivers and motivators behind my goals.
“Do I want this for appearances, or does the journey to get it excite me?”
I've got nothing against accomplishments - even ones that lead to conventional success.
I just don't want to chase them unless they're aligned with who I am.
Lesson 4: Achieved goals don't mean anything if head and heart are misaligned.
When it comes to resilience, you hear a lot about “learning from mistakes” and “bouncing back after a setback”.
Mistakes aren’t the only reason for a setback – bad luck or the wrong timing can easily be the culprit.
Thinking back to the 90’s tech revolution I missed out on, I thought I would never catch up.
I remember buying my first computer in 2000 and having no idea how to use it.
Fast forward a few years and I long for the non-tech days of letter-writing and making plans without last-minute cancelations via text.
Yes, I got off to a slow start but had the rest of my life to catch up.
Furthermore, it is just as important to learn from your wins, as well as your losses.
Repeating steps that got you the wins will get you more wins.
What’s needed for a successful career pivot is often a simple case of transferring a skillset to a new job environment or industry.
I’m currently coaching a senior manager to transfer his skill set from a regional to a global role.
I have no doubt he will succeed.
Running development workshops came easy once I realized I was using many of skills that had made me a great teacher.
Lesson 5: Key learnings come from wins and losses.
To summarize these 5 resilience-building lessons, here are:
RULES OF THE GAME