In life I have learned you have to control your controllables. When it comes to working a job I don’t love, I have had to learn this lesson the hard way. All I can control, day in and day out, is my own attitude. I am certainly not going to change billion dollar company, no one is that good.
Working full time forever was not on my BINGO card. After a decade in, student loans paid off, we were beginning the next most exciting phase of life! It was time to start our family. If you are a loyal reader of mine, you know that is not what happened. We lost all my babies, and I have been stuck working ever since.
For the last two decades, I have been tinkering with my work life approach. I have tried countless strategies, hobbies, schedules; you name it. It’s a daily moving target, but I think I finally found my sweet spot.
One of the secrets I have discovered is you have to like who you work with. Get connected; make friends, after all you know what they say about misery… It loves company! So no matter what company or position, I usually end up being the social director and/or cheerleader of the group.
Recently I had a fun remote teambuilding idea. A blind survey of co-workers where we each wrote down what we thought our teammates’ professions should have been. What was our missed calling in life? This was such a fascinating psychological sneak peek into how I was viewed by my teammates.
My teammates thought I should have been:
- Pediatrician
- Travel Documentary Host
- FBI Profiler
- Judge
- Judge (not a typo, this was submitted by two different teammates)
- Private Eye
Now it gets interesting. I have worked for this company less than five years, all remote. I have never met any of my teammates in ‘real life’. But these professions are spot on! They accurately highlight my likes and strengths. I love kids and travel, and I am a natural investigator. In fact, I graduated high school and started college with aspirations to be a criminal profiler for the FBI!
For my teammates, most of whom I have only known for less than a year, to be this accurate, it was kinda a WOW moment for me. This teambuilding exercise was a priceless barometer demonstrating how I am building relationships in my work life. I may always struggle with liking my job, but at least I can say like who I work with.
Now to the point of this piece… Mamas, how often in life are you allowed to see yourself through the eyes of others? When this happens, do you like what others see?
Mirror, mirror on the wall whose the most transparent of them all…
Ice Baby Ministries 