Blog Post: 9 Digestible Career Lessons From A Best Selling Author

Joanne Gordon doesn’t consider herself a career expert, but she’s not afraid to tell you what she’s learned from interviewing other people about their job.  This is a summary of some solid career advice she offered the Pursue the Passion crew about being happy at work.  

Lesson 1- Get Close to Perfect 

One of the things about careers is that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do to get to where you want to go.  Not every job is perfect.  Sometimes you have to say, ‘What can I get from this that will get me to where I think might be close to perfect?’

Lesson 2- Process. 

You have to think about the verbs of what you do everyday.  You should be skilled at and challenged by the main activities your job requires.    It should be something you have a natural inclination towards, but not so easy that you’re not intellectually engaged in it.  There should always be a challenge there, but not unattainable.  Think of a rock climber.  You’re challenged, but you’re not so challenged that it’s impossible.

Lesson 3- Purpose. 

You have to feel good about what you’re doing.  It doesn’t have to be altruistic.  You just have to believe in it.  

Lesson 4- People. 

You have to respect who you work with.  It doesn’t mean you have to like them.  It doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with them, but you have to respect them.

Lesson 5- Your First Job is Only Your First Job 

Your first job is only your first job.  You tend to think it’s the rest of your life.  But think about it.  You’re going to be on this earth for a long time.  You have such a long working life ahead of you that you shouldn’t stress about the first job.  Expect to be disappointed.  Expect to be confused.  Expect to be depressed.

Lesson 6- Informational Interviewing 

I have to say, I am a big fan of informational interviewing.  I think it teaches you stuff about yourself and about what’s out there.  You gain more knowledge.

You have to say, ‘That looks interesting.  Maybe I want to be a chef.’  So I’m going to go ask that chef and spend an hour with him and find out about what the hell he does everyday.  How he got there.  And then you’re like, ‘I don’t want to be a chef.’  One hour and you’ve answered that question for yourself.  

Lesson 7- You quit a job because of your boss.

The person you work for is going to make a huge difference on how you feel about your job.  That’s something to really think about.  You may say you hate your job or your career, but do you really hate your career, or is it just your job?  Should you look for a new company, or would you work for someone different?  

Lesson 8- What is starting over really? 

The longer you stay on the ladder, the higher and higher you get.  One day you say, ‘You know how long it’s going to take me to get this high on another ladder!?  I don’t want to jump now.’  That’s when people get stuck.  

I did PR for six years after college.  I hated PR.  It wasn’t part of me.  I felt bad, but I kept excelling.  Finally, I had to whip the rug out from under my life.  Chuck the salary and I broke up with my boyfriend at the same time.  I had nothing.  Uggh, I had nothing.  But I loved it. I went back to graduate school at 28.

Granted, I was the oldest person in grad school.  But I did feel it was going to be harder to start over the more I waited.  But what is starting over, really?  What are you losing?  

Lesson 9- Be Honest. 

You just have to pay attention to yourself.  Be honest with yourself about what your real skills are and what you really like and what you don’t like.  Try to be as honest as you can. Because sometimes you don’t want to admit certain things.  It’s okay to admit that you really want to work at a Forbes or a name brand place.  It’s okay to say that I really want to make a ton of money.  That’s totally okay.  Just be honest with it and then go do it.  

Pursue the Passion conducts interviews with people who are passionate about their job.  Over 300 interviews can be found at www.pursuethepassion.com.  The founder, Brett Farmiloe, and his partner in crime, Zach Hubbell, deliver keynote speeches to classrooms and HR Conferences across the country.  They will be releasing a book and documentary in 2009.