Dylan Stewart
Columnist
Quit your job! Or start owning it.
We talk about successful careers, but what does that mean? How do we define a successful career?
Successful careers are not jobs. Successful careers are not short-term goals and aspirations.
To have a successful career is to leave a legacy.
It’s to find your sure place in the world, and make it your own.
A successful career is something special. Something powerful to observe.
I remember having a job, making someone else rich, giving them the power over my calendar, the choice over my time.
Trading my hours … those limited and irretrievable hours.
And for what?
A few trinkets? A bigger TV? A larger shackle around my force of will?
We are all trapped, imprisoned by our seemingly grand dreams of mediocrity and the fears of our own lack of worth, and so we sit outside, looking out at the stars, thinking … if only, if only.
So what do we do? We do what has to be done, wake up, punch the clock, and find some way to while away the hours … pretending we are good enough when deep down we don’t really believe it.
And we take jobs that are beneath us, and we stay too long with that one position, and we sell ourselves short.
Take our brilliance for granted.
But what if we believed in ourselves just that little bit more?
What then?
Who would we be without those doubts? Who could we become with just a little bit more confidence in who we are and some faith in the power of our own individual uniqueness?
Without those doubts, we would have no excuses left.
And what then?
You see, gone are the days where our fates are decided upon by the rich and mighty.
Gone are the days where we have no power over the direction of our own careers.
With today’s technology…
With the tools available on even the average cell phone, we have no excuses any more.
We can be whatever we want, create whatever career we want. Plot our own course, but first you have to believe it.
You are something special. You have greatness in you. Whether it is your skill with the word, or with the tool. Whether it is your strength or your intellect. Your cunning curiosity or your wisdom and depth of knowledge. There is something deep inside you that is worth much more than you even you realize.
And you owe it to the world to bring that BEST VERSION of you out.
Somehow, some way.
Now, think about your day job.
Does it inspire you? Does it bring you joy?
Is it more than just a paycheck?
Because if it’s just a paycheck, there are better ways to spend our time here.
We are worthy of a career that inspires us.
We are worthy of loving how we spend our days.
We are worthy of taking the time that it takes to build the plan to follow our dreams … but don’t wait forever.
The only thing standing between you and that great career that lasts your whole life is you. Your belief system. Your faith in yourself.
If you’re going to be an accountant, bring your all to it. Own it, love it, be the best damn accountant anyone has ever seen.
No one is saying quit your job. What I am saying is find some place, some way, some part of your life where you are inspired, and inspiring those around you.
Be the best waiter that restaurant has ever seen, or the best journalist or the best lawyer.
Or follow even bigger dreams.
But know successful careers don’t just happen. They are planned. They take place over the spans of decades.
A job is something you can take or leave.
It’s time to stop pretending that we aren’t worth that bigger picture, that long-term vision, that realized dream of a successful career.
And it’s time for us to start doing the things that are going to help us to get there.
Every day.
Whatever it takes.
Because we are worthy of more.
Worthy of more than we have ever dreamed.
And the career of our dreams is just waiting there … waiting for us to realize it.