Tenacity
Evidently, my tenacity paid off. I’ve been hired into my new role as Senior Applications Engineer. I more-or-less wrote my own job description, and I love the new role. What do I do? I wrote my own mission statement, too: I’m here to help.
That means I help people (inside and outside the corporation) use our systems and applications. It means I teach, I draw, I write “stories.” It means I suggest usability and design improvements. It means a lot of fingers into a lot of pies. (Mmmm, pie).
But how did I get the role?
The take-home for anyone looking to improve their lot in life is this: make yourself useful. Volunteer. Do whatever you can. Take on challenging assignments. If people aren’t giving you such assignments, make up your own. Just keep the following three thoughts in mind:
*Can I do this?
*Can I do this and still do my day job?
*Am I doing this for the good of my organization (and not just me)?
Being useful means you have to have some kind of skill or ability that someone else needs. Don’t have any? Then learn, dammit. I am the library’s biggest fan, and I’m sure the librarians either hate me or appreciate just how much I make use of their system. I read voraciously. I study new things. I poke my nose in where it doesn’t belong. Why? Because, if I’m doing it with my three guiding points in mind, then I’m hopefully doing something to advance my organization’s goals.
Tenacity is sister to follow-through. I am NOT particularly well known for follow-through. That in mind, I make a real effort to make up for my failings. I think that’s what really paid off the most. With a few stumbling blocks along the way, I was able to deliver everything I signed up to deliver.
Don’t seek permission. Don’t wait around for someone to realize how amazing you are. Take steps to make things go the way you want them to go. And deliver something. It’s great to have lots of ideas, and want to be helpful. It’s way better that you actually get your hands dirty and help out.
But, like everything in life, everything in moderation. It’s great to be involved in lots of things, but this can tax your goals to do a few things very well. Focus on the wildly important. That’s a good way to set your course. Is what you’re trying to accomplish wildly important to yourself and to your organization.
Who else has found their way into a great role through their own sweat and hard work? Who’s done it with their fitness? Brag a little. Tell me about it, would you?
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