complacency as the rival of fulfillment: dashbored

No job is filled with creativity and stimulation 100% of the time. And yet we’re all born with passions that should be fully explored in the search for fulfilling careers. They’re out there; are you rushing to find them? Do you squeeze the most juice from each day?

Maybe you love the outdoors; choose one of countless jobs that has you experiencing sunlight over fluorescent lights, breathing natural air rather than that from filtered air conditioning. Maybe you love food; choose one of equallcountless jobs that has you preparing, cooking, creating, serving, owning. Do you get the idea? Choose!

Tradeoffs, of course, are an inevitable part of life. When making such decisions (and make no mistake, they are decisions) with purpose and integrity, they can be both useful and unselfish. If you’ve got a family to support, kids to feed, working 50 hours each week in a less-than-ideal job can itself be ideal for a period of time. Even under this circumstance, however, never stop learning; never stop striving. Earn an advanced degree nights and weekends. Continue the relentless quest for the job you literally can’t wait to engage with each day. Complacency is the rival of personal and career fulfillment; as such, doggedly pursue happiness. It’s your constitutional directive, as basic as free speech and essential liberties. Waste not a moment. And staid corporate culture is hardly the only viable option these days. Entrepreneurial companies abound in today’s economy, which can offer flexibility and encouragement to committed free spirits. In a recent New York Times interview, Dan Ruch, chief executive of Rocketrip, a business travel software company, is frank about what he and other CEOs are seeking in employees:

Accountability is really important. You are accountable to your team, and part of accountability means being responsive. So it’s not O.K. to not respond to an email. If you’re that kind of person, you’re not going to be here for very long. You have to be responsive, usually within 24 hours, and usually much faster than that. Unread emails give me anxiety, so I read absolutely everything, and I will be one of the most responsive people in the organization, always. That’s not necessarily a good thing, because what I’ve noticed happening is that the whole team has started marching to the beat of my drum, and my drum beats mornings, nights and weekends. That could lead to burnout risk. But it’s not something I want to change. I love what I do, and I want the people on my team to love what they do, too. We also give an ownership stake to everyone. There is an administrative cost and burden to doing that, but it’s not the point. What matters is the emotional attachment, the empowerment that employees feel when they own a part of the company.

 Make a beeline for employment agencies. Run with education and self-improvement. Dash toward the nearest job fair. Learn as much as you can, with a sense of urgency and love of life that knows no slack.

You’ll never be bored.

at a minimum: cardboard & character

How easy to take for granted…

…the hundreds of thousands of people—men and women with lives, loves and labors—who are responsible for that cardboard carton carrying everything from beer and books to papers and paraphernalia.

The factory workers, the salespeople, the layers of middle and upper management, the stockholders who provide capital for payroll and expansion, the drivers who long-haul these yet-to-be-filled and already-filled boxes, the cities and states that depend upon the accompanying toll revenues, the cities and states that depend upon the accompanying toll revenues, the highway workers who in turn pave and upkeep those very well-traveled roads, the bricks-and-mortar and online workers who stock, pack and send the boxes, the lawyers and doctors who stack them rafter-high, the paper recyclers alert to these soon-to-be discarded cartons… All of them spend their earned income on themselves, and their families and friends, which in turn creates sustenance for so many more.

The livelihoods of large numbers of adults (and by extension the upkeep and education of their offspring)—as well as the health of nonprofit organizations that depend upon the volunteer work and financial resources accruing from emotionally generous people with their own needs met—directly depend upon the work ethic of all those critical behind-the-scenes workers who toil anonymously to keep our society functioning smoothly. What this means is that—just from cardboard boxes—millions of lives are fed, are able to buy shelter and transportation, and are allowed the opportunity to pursue happiness. Many of these people live extraordinary if quiet lives, impacting those far beyond their immediate circle. Character is built from daily labor, from feeding one’s family, from honest and invaluable work throughout all walks of life.

The market and competitive forces at work in preventing the minimum wage from rising to $15 range from defensible to deplorable, yet offering meaningful hope to countless workers who keep us moving invariably increases productivity and breeds the desire for self-improvement. Baltimore’s Democratic mayor Catherine Pugh just vetoed such a minimum-wage increase, saying that her city would become a “hole in the doughnut” if it required a $15-an-hour increase, given the immediate disadvantage that would create with neighboring cities and suburbs. Yet the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that fully a quarter of the residents of Maryland’s biggest city live below the federal poverty level.

These are valid and difficult circumstances to overcome, which can only be made solvable by active participation and input from all involved. Next time you’re rushing on the hither side of life, take a moment to stop and consider how many lives of character and integrity have been, are and will continue to be positively affected by that simple utilitarian cardboard box. Apply this metaphor to countless other products, and it’s not hard to see how we’re all interconnected, how we depend on people we’ll never know, how our own livelihoods are a degree of separation away from those of our neighbors down the street, across the ocean and beyond the airwaves.

storing and accessing mistakes: I cloud

Making mistakes can be a source of true peace.

What a ridiculous statement, no? How could it be so, and why does it never feel that way at the moment?

For those determined to move ahead tangibly—both personally and professionally—and not just to aspire, the follow-up question, “What can be gleaned from this?” is key. None of us can know at all times where to step and where to avoid, what to do and what to avoid, how to embrace and how to avoid; such a valuable avoidance instinct can only be built up over time, over problems solved, over situations lived through.

As long as we recognize that being perfect is not only unrealistic but impossible, and that freely admitting inevitable mistakes is a sign of strength and self-awareness rather than weakness, we open ourselves to lasting progress and development. The instinct to cover up mistakes or to spin them in a more favorable light is surely natural; who, after all, wants to walk around with errors hanging from the emotional rafters, with slips stuck to public message boards?

The international, highly public political, financial and social drama that continues to play out in decadent DC offers a fascinating example of someone who polarizes, fights hard and defies expectations of loss without admitting his mistakes, and who owns a corresponding and increasingly low approval rating.

Once an identified problem is addressed without delay—an essential component given that lingering over or not confronting it can easily result in its being worse by an order of magnitude, which is precisely what is happening across the Capitol—most of the time all impacted parties can move on with trust and confidence that it won’t be repeated. This fact can lead not only to meaningful peace, but can minimize the corrosive aspects of social ills, politics, relationship strains and rafts of stress.

The Spanish philosopher, novelist and poet George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Must we continue to invest our hopes for stability into those whose hard drives are inclined to erase lessons from our past?

That we can mentally store our mistakes and dark clouds—that we can call them up purposefully as a reference point for how to act positively and what to steer clear of—represent true gifts, wrapped with the twin ribbons of perseverance and character.

making the most of meaningful opportunity: flew shot

How many times are you confronted with meaningful opportunity — in a day, a week, a month? Are you receptive to the signs, willing to pursue them, eager to take your best shot? Doing so may take you out of your comfort zone, may involve some risk, may expose you to criticism and/or failure, may initially sting.

But weigh the consequences of inaction, and you may well be confronted by mediocre work, by unsatisfying relationships, by an unforgiving calendar, by less money, by… by… by.

Often buried within the kaleidoscopic responsibilities that each of us must maintain to live on our 21st-century planet is the plain fact that our time here is ever brief. Given that, how can anyone reasonably choose to waste it? To be sure, an entire week spent by the ocean, sleeping late, eating just-caught seafood, making love, cellphone and sweat a world away, can be just as sustaining as a solid week of 16-hour office days. Ambition manifests itself in endless ways, yet it returns time and again to making the most of our gifts, our resources, our time.

Carl Hulse’s politics article in yesterday’s New York Times, “A Jarring New Level of Confrontation and Conflict Hits Washington,” echoes the increasing sense of lost time and opportunity facing the nation and the world:

Even after years of unbreakable gridlock and unyielding partisanship, it was a jarring new level of confrontation and conflict, and it was contributing to a building sense of crisis just as the new president was to disclose the identity of a new Supreme Court nominee — a selection certain to further inflame tensions.

Are you in your 20s or even 30s, thinking that you have plenty of time? That all those pending decisions can wait awhile? That what’s the difference, you’ll be fine? If that’s the case, then take just a moment to think about how a lack of preparation will manifest itself in your 50s and 60s…. Time flew by and what have you got? What have you done with the self-same life that decades earlier was taken blithely for granted?

Enough retirement money would, of course, be quite nice, but the equation transcends bank balances and 401(k) plans. Will you be able to look back with quiet satisfaction, secure in the firm knowledge that you made the most of the time with which you were graced?

Don’t let it all fly by. Take your best shot, then reap what you sow.

looking ahead: inauguration blues

January 2017 has nearly run its course; a twelfth of the new year is already history. What of the resolutions to inaugurate new habits and new pursuits, to look ahead as a high-school student looks toward college, as a college student looks toward a job or graduate school? Those in their teens and 20s are more often than not filled with the idealistic perspective of the need for education, of making a lasting impact, of personal growth.

With the calendar’s relentless progression when the 30s and 40s can seem to pass so quickly, with increasing job and family responsibilities, with the constant need to try finding time for exercise and sleep, who has time to inaugurate a skill like learning a new language? (The phrase ‘foreign language’ is increasingly fading as the world’s borders become ever closer, despite current walls and divisions.) Who has time to inaugurate an exercise routine when just getting out of the house in the morning and back in at night can seem to elevate the heart rate too much?

The 50s and 60s often bring measurable achievement across a kaleidoscopic range of family, career and community (and wider) impact. Yet it would appear that a large portion of these people reach a certain point in life and they’re looking more toward retirement than looking forward to continuing to learn and develop skills, or serve nonprofit organizations pro bono, or inaugurate a new community program.

Others, though, even into their 70s and 80s, continue to seek, to grow, to learn, to give back. Yes, it can surely be difficult to start new projects, to look ahead to new areas of life, to seek out new friendships and relationships. Such inauguration blues—however initially daunting—can turn into some of the most meaningful and stimulating of life’s often unexpected turns. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, for example, didn’t make their mark until after turning 50. Colonel Sanders began KFC in his 60s; Grandma Moses started to paint in her 70s. Countless people, well-known and not, fit this profile.

The actress Mary Tyler Moore, who died today at 80, expressed the edge that many feel, that internal tension that keeps them eagerly going: “I work because I enjoy it. I only enjoy doing things that frighten me a little bit.”

Go for it. Look ahead. Inaugurate that new project or skill. As for those other 1600 inauguration blues, that’s another story entirely.