Jobs

There are a couple of things I've been thinking about recently, as they relate to jobs. I guess I'll just lump them all together in one fell swoop. They do not all have one outcome or bring value to one thing in particular, but they are mere observations about jobs in and of themselves.

1. Sacrificial Training: As I started my new job in November and had to "learn the ropes," if you will, of a new position again I was reminded of how much time it takes to learn a new job and how much patience and effort it takes to train one to learn a new job. As such, I realized that there must be a thing called sacrificial training. When one does start a new job there is a certain level of time and dedication that goes into training that new person. Jobs are not learned overnight. And I'm sorry, but they are not learned either (very well) by being thrown to the wolves. Hands-on learning does help, but one should always be prepped and equipped with the tools to learn before jumping right in.

When someone is learning something new, the person training them has to be patient. They themselves, if they don't know already, have to "learn" that they are going to have to let go of what they're doing from time to time and give their attention to that person. It may not be easy or ideal, but it has to happen. I know it may not always be that person's choice to be the trainer, but the trainee does not care or even know that this might be the case. You cannot expect the new person to understand everything about the company overnight, learn the systems overnight, and grasp the concept of an organization's processes in an instant. Who trained you? Who taught you? Did they take their time? Did they let go of what they were doing for moments and help you truly learn what you were supposed to be doing? Taking the time to train someone is key, and it is a sacrifice. But if it is done with care and done slowly, they will (let's hope), in the end, be better at what they do, learn quicker, and understand more easily. And let's face it, it will benefit you as well.

2. Doing your job is like running your own business: If you want to be successful you have to act successfully. Doing a job sometimes is hard work, but if you want great outcomes you have to put into it what you want to get out of it. It is like creating your own franchise and dipping into the world entrepreneurialism. There a lots of negative things about working for a corporation or "Big Brother," if you will, but you can make good out of it too. Doing your job is like making a name for yourself, like marketing yourself, whether that be good or bad. You can become well known by your good works and ability to get along with people or you can easily become talked about as one of the folks who doesn't try hard or get along with others easily. When you run your own business, you want to succeed so you take everything you know and have and all your good qualities and talents and wrap them up into the biggest outpourings of your business. The same way applies to your job. You wouldn't want your business to fail, so why would you want to fail at your job? Your job is your business. It's your paycheck. And slacking off only hurts, not helps.

In a general sense, you are working with people and for people every day. You are making sure that the operations you are responsible for are being followed through and carried out. You support, you delegate, you respond, you organize. You run your own business. We all do. And by doing so, we can either create a welcoming, warm, responsible, and reliable environment or we can create a crappy one by which no one wants to come to us for anything and no one feels they can rely on us for anything. You promote yourself, and it is up to you how it's done.

3. We've had a lot of jobs: I was thinking about how many different types of jobs Isaac and I have had over the years. Some were hideous while others were great, and great for us, experientially. We only start to, we hope, rise as we move forward. The lower class credit jobs helped us get that higher class payroll job and the esteemed Military role helped us dance on into the Police Academy. The coffee making helped us land the Key Holder position at the Card shop and the Operations experience serenaded us into the world of Fulfillment Management.

There is so much knowledge to gain and I feel I have only hit the rim of the iceberg.