I sometimes wonder if I am coasting too much.
The lead up to the interview which is happening today has given me a lot to think about, really from my reaction to the possibility of it. The fact that I was regularly checking my e-mail for a response leads me to believe that any sense of this being "not my time to look" is more rooted in me not wanting to rock the boat that me truly believing that it is not the time to be looking.
I have allowed myself to become a bit lazy on the development side as well.
The reality is - like it or not - I likely have several more years of a regular job ahead of me unless 1) I somewhat magically get lucky (which has never really happened), or 2) the world ends and I have bigger problems than the fact that I am still working. To that end, I should doing my best to develop my skills professionally, not coast along.
That said, I find it is one of the hardest things to do. Part of it is simply that I do not necessarily crave learning about the things I do for a living the way I do for things that I actually enjoy doing. The second is that I can somehow completely fill my time up at work doing "work" things, not necessarily improving myself as part of the bargain. It is easy to decide "I will find time to do some On The Job Learning"; it is much more difficult when 80% of your week is meetings and the other 20% are e-mails and meeting minutes.
But if I want to do more and be ready to get out - whenever that happens - I need to doing more to build my store of knowledge.
I have my study class in project management of course, which is easy enough. But where I have failed to do enough is in the areas of leadership and systems, something which impacts my job directly, no matter what I end up doing.
To that end, I have already started re-reading some of the books I have on the subject - and helpfully, bought a couple more (in my world, everything is solved by reading). I cannot promise they will make me better - after all, it takes me reading something time and time again to get it into my thick skull - but at least it is a starting point.
It is not a perfect plan of course, but it is somewhere to start. After all, my reactions are telling me that part of me is past ready time to move on.
I think I understand the not seeking to improve work performance through research. I come into office very early to research and learn from the internet. I'm also an Autocad CAD draftsman.
ReplyDeleteI could be learning faster ways to get my work accomplished on my off time, but really, have no interest in researching how to work better using the program. Those skills for me are perishable, meaning if I don't use them constantly, they are forgotten commands.
The employees who do have these skills are interested in the program - I am more interested in building skills than the computer program. Not sure if this makes sense to the reader - my apologies.
It does make sense, at least to me. In my case, when I say "skills" it is only partially that of my current line of work, project management. I am also thinking of the "soft skills" of self development, self improvement, and self confidence (all of which I need a great deal of work on!).
DeleteSounds like you are trying to buck the system TB. All the people I knew either loved their jobs or were just coasting by this point.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am, Ed. I find myself in that odd position of not having this job be my "life's calling" nor being in a position to retire early. As such, I will have to make a go of things - at least in my mind, I should do the best to continue to grow in my career until it ends. Who knows what I might learn?
DeleteGood luck with your interview!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!
DeleteWhen we were at Beale AFB back in the 70s, there was a software programmer. Interesting guy at the time.
ReplyDeleteGot invited to his home, I forget why, not a computer to be seen. He showed us his garden and his apple trees. He told us work stayed at work.
Not sure why I thought of this now. Good luck, TB. Knock 'em dead.
God bless.
Thank Linda. Being reminded that keeping work and life separate is always a good thing.
DeleteFeed your success - what have you been really good at? What are complementary skills that would be comparatively easy to add. Synergy (Good+Good=Uncommonly Rare Combination)
ReplyDeleteJohn, that is one of the things that is moderately interesting in that for the industry I am in, I have been in almost every business angle and level of compliance in it. It is a rare mix; most people stay in a single arena. Whether by unconscious choice or circumstance, I have been in many.
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