Have you ever asked yourself -Why do I work here? Money has few rivals in terms of its power to tempt us to achieve both good and bad in this life. Many people work where they work because they have built their lifestyle around the money they make. Many people begin careers in an area that they love. Kids who tinkered with legos become engineers, kids who were impacted by good teachers become teacher and kids who majored in gym never seem to get out. Many people, however, float along until they are stuck in some job that they took because they needed to start paying bills. This is not a fun place to be since we spend an awful lot of time at work - about 7.6 hours a day and even more considering time spent getting ready and commuting.
I was one of those people. As the first person in my family to go to college I had a very simple method of choosing where I would attend -- the best academic school that recruited me for football. Not bad but now what? Freshman year I was given many opportunities to explore the various academic departments. My program that year was actually called "Ventures in Human Sexuality". Good Morning sheltered freshmen! I considered cognitive science, computers but I eventually settled on political science. I really didn't have a career in mind although if you asked me I would have said, "FBI Agent".
After college I took the first job I was offered at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. After all I was getting married and needed to have some way of supporting my wife, Audrey, who was still in college. Enterprise is a great company and taught me a lot about business management but the choice did not emanate from my interests and passions. After two promotions and 1.5 years I decided I had to get out.
Looking back, the decision to leave Enterprise is the starting point for my mission to find work that I LOVE. It was one of the craziest, most difficult and greatest things Audrey and I could have done. It was crazy because I kept getting promoted and making more money. It was difficult because I didn't have a next step, let along a job or a career direction. It was great because it improved my marriage, led me to other jobs where I met great people and learned lots of new things and because the whole journey prepared me to do what I love - teach life to teenagers.
Next up: How and why I left Enterprise and what I did next
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3 comments:
what if you can't gte the job you always wanted or loved what do you do then? what if that the job and there were no others and you didn't have a back-up....?
I found it interesting how you went through a process on discovering what you want to do in your life. It takes a lot of thought for your present and future to make these kinds of decisions. You not only need to think about others, you need to think about yourself and what you want to do in your life to enjoy your work and to work hard to make the amount of money you want.
Did you find that being a buisness teacher is what you really love to do in your life or is there other jobs you have that you feel strongly about? Does that job support your family well, aswell?
do you think it would be an okay idea to go to a community college to get all my required courses done the to get trasfered to a state college? is that the cheaper way to go?
I think leaving enterprise was a great thing for you dto do because it oviously led you to have a more succesful life not only in the work world but in your relationship as well. Even though you were getting promotions quit often it oviously wasnt what you really had in mind to make you happy so i think in the end your judgment was right on.
alyssa ursin
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