Ok, let me start by saying I am sorry for not updating earlier. Life took me down a scenic path.

Over the past few weeks I have had a lot to think about, a lot of it comes from the place I spend most of my time-WORK.

I started working at the age of 15 and I have a pretty healthy work history. I become very dedicated to my job. In fact if you peeked at my resume you would see a trend (i noticed it too) with my job span. I tend to stay with a company for about six years. When I look back on my past, I enjoyed every job I had, but at some point my employers make strange changes in work demands, I get fed up and tend to leave. One thing that’s always consistent with my coworkers is the phrase “real job”. Ever since I was 15 I wanted one of these. I don’t even know what makes a job a “real” job. So I started asking. I asked co-workers, friends, customers, and family. Here are some of the things I heard.

Set schedule
No name tag or uniform
Good benefits package
Room for individual growth and success
Enough money to provide for your family

Well, I seem to have been able to provide for myself at all of my jobs, I had a 401k at the age of 16, and I have always climbed the success ladder-regardless of my company. I guess the two things I have never experienced are SET SCHEDULE and NO UNIFORM and/or NAME TAG.

Just because you don’t wear a name tag can’t determine your work is any more difficult than the next. In fact, maybe the company you work for may not recognize you as an individual but merely a number. I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but does it even makes sense to assume that an individual that bares a name tag is enslaved? I think not. You rely on those individuals when you visit their locations. I know you do.

When I was younger I would argue with other teens about a real job being something that another person needs. They would tell me that a job at a fast food joint or a restaurant is not a job, no one needs them. Yet, these individuals were the first to leave their “real” jobs and visit the local restaurant chain and spend their hard-earned “real job” money on the nobodies that waited for them. Again I say, nonsense.

The set schedule thing eludes me. I have never had it. I equate a set schedule to “bankers hours” and those that sit in a cubicle for hours a day. I think I would like to try it, but who wants to sit all day. It sure can’t be any better than standing all day as I do. Let me know if you have a set schedule and if it is any better than the random 40+ I work. I would love to hear.

I have a bigger question: What’s the difference between a job and a career?
Is a job something you don’t have to go to school for? Is a job something you dread going to everyday and can’t wait to leave? Is a career something you spent countless hours perfecting skills for?

www.dictionary.com defines a job as:a piece of work, esp. a specific task done as part of the routine of one’s occupation or for an agreed price, a post of employment, or anything a person is expected or obliged to do

and a career as:an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one’s lifework,a person’s progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking, or success in a profession, occupation, etc.

Sounds like the people I asked where on the right track when speaking about success. It also seems that by definition a job is something you do as part of your career. Give me some feedback here. Do you have to like your place of employment and the work you do to call is a career? Do you know its your career when you stop calling it your job? That was also suggested to me. I just realized in this entire blog I refer to myself as having a job. Interesting.

Till next time…..
BE GOOD. BE TRUE. BE REAL