Contributions vs Careers

I have a short, but hopefully sweet, message to challenge us with this week.

Since college, I’ve had a pretty nontraditional working life. I played about two years of professional golf, worked in a corporate setting for three years, and have since owned my own business for the last ten.

After the last two posts about interdependence and selfishness, I thought I’d propose a small change in wording that can help us take a better approach to our work this week. Here it is.

🌟 My challenge to you this week is to think about your work as a contribution you are making, vs a career you are building 🌟 

When we talk about the Young Professional Trap, it isn’t just one thing, it ensares us in many different ways. The most dangerous of those are the subtle ones that appear innocent, but slowly erode the true purpose of work.

It can seem pretty harmless to say things like:

• I’m trying to figure out what I want to do next in my career

• Taking on that role would be a good career move for me

• I’m proud of the career that I’ve built

• So and so had such an impressive career

None of these things are wrong or bad in and of themselves, but when you look at the totality of this type of thinking, it has built a mental framework that our work is in service of our career.

I’ll say that again. It builds a mental framework that our work is in service of our careers.

The scary thing about the YPT is that these habits form early, they become normal, and by the time we are 20 years into our careers, we don’t even notice that it is all about me, myself, and I.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “career” this way: a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling.

Our careers are not things that we own. Yes, they are uniquely ours to live out, but they are not something we build or create. As the definition above states, our careers are a calling, and a calling is something we do to serve others, not ourselves. All of our work should be focused on the positive contributions it can make.

So instead of focusing on taking the next step to build our careers this week, what if this week we said things like:

• How can I contribute to our company’s success today?

• What contribution can we make in service of our customer’s well-being?

• What kind of contributions do we want to leave for our next generation?

• I’m thankful for the opportunity to make positive contributions through my work.

Word matter. Trust me, as an external processor, I need this reminder as much as anyone. When we ignore the importance of our word choice, we allow broken thinking to take hold in our hearts and minds.

👉️ So, if you want to have an exceptional career, start focusing on the contributions you are making to the teams, companies, and communities that you are a part of. 👈️ 

I have great hope that if we all commit to this subtle change, it will make a world of difference in the way we work.

As always, please respond to this email if you’d like to talk and discuss anything from this or prior posts! And if you have any friends who you think might derive value from this - I’d love for you to share it with them.

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With Hope and Gratitude,

Alex