Anti-social Media

So, a colleague of mine "borrowed" my phone in the first week of October and set up a hotspot so he could back up his phone on the cloud and used all my data for the month.

Annoying, yes. But also a blessing in disguise.

I had no access to the internet unless I was at home. (Of course I have internet at work, but only for finance-y things.) I also couldn't receive some text messages if they were sent from an iPhone until I was on my wi-fi.

Interestingly enough, I also have had my best month yet in my new job. By October 15th I was already almost at 30% of my quarterly goal. My boss basically pulled me aside and told me that if I keep performing like this for the next five months (until the end of Q1), he will help me find whatever job I want next. (This is VERY good news for my plans to move to Denver.)

Since I'm back in full on list-making mode, I have realized that there are still a lot of things I want to get accomplished in my day to day life. Some of them are things that will help me get to various things on my 30 Before 30 list, some of them are just things I've been needing to do for a while but haven't gotten around to.

Also, we are now inside the six month mark to the CFP, so studying for that is going to have to ramp up big time starting in about two weeks. It's good timing though. I'm really getting into the swing of things in my new job and I don't feel the need to work quite as much overtime. Also, as we get towards the holidays, business slows down considerably. Even so, I have a feeling I may have to take a few month hiatus from social media. (Good thing I don't consider my little bloglette to be social media... even though I suppose it is.)

Back to work though, has anyone noticed how lazy most Americans are? Of course I'm including myself but it's really astounding when you stop to think about it. Before you can obtain any given job, you're put through an interview or series of interviews to make sure you're a good candidate for the job and that the company is a good fit for you. From what I've seen there are two main components (maybe three) to how successful you will be. The first is natural ability. Some people are naturally more gifted in certain areas than others. The second is just good old hard work. It's amazing the things you can do, even if you lack natural skill, if you just work at something hard enough put in even an ounce of effort more than the bare minimum. (The third is having a good attitude, I think.)

I've worked at my company for 20 months. I've been promoted three times. The people on my team (which is the most tenured team in the department) out-tenure (is that a word?) me by an average of 4-5 years. (Not at the company... IN THE DEPARTMENT.) I constantly get asked what I'm doing that is making me so much better than they are or at least than they were when they first started. I just want to be honest and say look, I just work when I'm at work, that's the bottom line. No one in college ever tells you that if you just work while you're at work once you're in the real world, you're going to go far. Especially if you do it with a smile on your face. I do have a natural knack for what I'm doing and I'm thankful for that. But the natural ability doesn't mean that I have more conversations with my clients and win more business. Hard work gives me more opportunities to "swing the bat" and the more times you swing, the more you hit. End of story.

Thank you Jesus for a job that I'm good at and that gives me opportunities to eventually do what I love.