Don't just get through it, get into it!

I went to a birthday party recently for a 5 year old and it was at 2:30 in the afternoon at a bowling alley on a gorgeous sunny Sunday in August...in Seattle!  The wrongness of this appointment transcends so many levels, but surely if you've lived in Seattle for more than one summer you'll understand most of my angst.  I'd already made up my mind that we had a hard stop after an hour, even though the party was scheduled to last until 4:30.  In my head I had my "to-do" list (both personal and professional) and in order to hit those milestones and wring the last little bit of enjoyment out of my weekend (reiterating the sunny and warm part)...

Any of this sound familiar? 

I was so busy checking things off of my list that I'd inadvertently decided I wasn't going to enjoy spending time with other parents (who probably felt the same as I did) or get a couple of hours of enjoyment watching my kids having a good time with other kids.  I caught myself getting all spun-up on the drive to the bowling alley and quickly decided that for my part, that would be a suck way to spend two hours of my life.  With less difficulty than I  had imagined I committed to engaging with other parents, enjoying my wife and kids and PRESTO!, we were there for the duration, had a good time and were still able to do what I wanted afterward. 

Fast forward and now it's Monday.  I'm looking around and I see people scurrying around their offices looking as busy with their "lists" as I felt at the bowling alley the day before with mine. "Have to; Got to; must finish by EOD or else" are all lead-ins I heard throughout the day.  Curiously absent were, "Want to; Get to; can't wait to finish and show my client" etc.  It dawned on me that a lot of us are confusing activity with productivity.  As my wife will occasionally ask, "is your journey satisfying, or are you just arriving at your destination?"  Do you spend your energy rushing through your list of daily chores such that you feel tired but unsatisfied at the end of the day? Are you so focused on getting to the next thing on your list that you fail to appreciate the quality required of you and necessary for the task at hand?  Do you ever imagine that any of the world's great successes in business, art or science subscribed to that model? 

I know, a lot of questions.  At the risk of going all Zen with my suggestion, maybe take an extra moment to focus on doing well anything you're doing (month-end reports, job hunting, sales calls, code reviews, being a parent at a bowling-birthday-party-for-kids, etc) and hold yourself accountable.  I'm suggesting you really plug yourself into the equation.  Get completely into it as opposed to just getting through it and then, whether at work, play or some destination in between, occasionally ask yourself, " is this journey satisfying?"  vinny

Your degree is BS in what?

So you made the choice to spend a lot of money and commit years of your life toward getting a degree?  Good, now get your money's worth and be prepared to discuss and demonstrate some of the specifics of what you learned with the people interviewing you. That or prepare to be passed over.

Used to be not everyone had the time, money or inclination to go to college after completing high school and in those times just having a degree would elevate and set you apart from others competing for the same job. Things started changing in the 80's and then the 90's came with a huge push in all things technical and financial.  Industry screamed for a more educated talent pool, immigration caps were raised, government offered more student loans, schools started offering more degreed programs; all combining to create an economic landscape that today is bursting with new college grads and MBA's that are having a hard time finding jobs.  "Why is that?" you ask.

I submit that the difficulty for more than a few is because they're having a hard time explaining what they learned, why they learned it and more importantly, how both will positively impact their prospective employer.  Nobody cares if you were in the top 3% of your class if you can't answer a basic question in your chosen field of study, or worse, are offended by being asked a 101 question that you don't deem pertinent to the job.  (By the way, do expect to be asked how many were in the class and what criteria determined the percentages if you choose to go this route.)

If your degree is in education, computer science, accounting, or whatever, be prepared to have an intelligent, repeat, intelligent conversation about why you chose your field, what you learned that changed your life, and how making that choice can positively change other lives.  Can you talk about the theories of Freud and Jung, or what's really included in COGS so your month end reports are accurate?  Do you really believe Fibonacci is important and why would you use the big O notation in the analysis of an algorithm?

Almost anyone can obtain a degree today by paying tuition, showing up, passing the tests and meeting the minimum graduation qualifications; none of which is necessarily a guarantee of higher intelligence, just additional education.  Proof of education won't set you apart in today's job market, proof of intelligence will set you apart in any job market.

No degree?  I'll be talking about how to leap that hurdle in an upcoming post.

Feel free to follow me, use the 'share' toolbar below to send to a friend, recommend, comment and/or send me mail by going to www.otbcoaching.com...vinny