Earning My Stripes

We are quickly approaching my one year anniversary with my current employer. Over the last year there has been an assortment of lessons I have learned, not only about the company I work for, but about myself as well. There is so much in this world that we are oblivious to because of our lack of perception in the moment, but if you continue to analyze what you have done and how you can improve, you will continue to grow better every day. We often forget that nothing good happens fast, it takes time and effort to grow ourselves and what we do.

I have been spending this last year earning my stripes, working hard and analyzing every mistake I have made so that I can continue to grow as a human and as an employee. If you ever stop growing in your position, it is time to look for a new one. This not only helps you, but the company as well. As we grow complacent in our jobs we slowly stop growing and learning, what we do instead is remain stuck in our ways and lose the ability to function in a highly efficient manner. When I have a tough day at work I like to listen to podcasts or videos of speakers like Simon Sinek and Gary Vaynerchuck. They like to give a lot of insight into how they became successful and what they attribute it to, which allows me a place to start. This link is attached to a video I watched about a month ago. It is Gary Veynerchuck talking about his experience as a child and as a successful businessman. He makes a point to talk about how he did not do well in school, but he did not let that define him. He continues to work hard and had patience. He eventually grew his company from $3 million in sales to $60 million.

Over the last few months we have been designing a new program to attract technicians to want to work at certain dealerships, and this last weekend we finally accepted that what we designed needs to be thrown out and we have to start over. What we created was like a beautiful machine that just had a few too many pieces, like Ikea furniture, it was too difficult to put together. We are now working on making it more efficient and effective as a recruiting tool so that its implementation is more practical. The best part about this project at work is it is living proof that what I am doing and learning at Walsh College is relevant. Unfortunately for my high school teachers, I still haven't used the Pythagorean theorem.