***REPOST from September 2010***
This is part one of a series of ideas I want to share from my PAST experience. I’m a girlfriend who wants to share so that you, my friends, might learn from me rather than deal with the heartache yourself.
I’ve been in the corporate world for going on eight years now and I’ve learned a few things along the way:
How to apply the long last lipstick that will get me through a day’s worth of sales calls.
How to apply the right amount of self tanner to look like I’m wearing panty hose when I’m actually not.
How to apply said tanner sans streaking so the “panty hose” look real.
How to close the sale before they realize I’m actually closing the sale.
How to look cute and smile while still coming across as professional.
But the biggest lesson I have learned is that ITS JUST BUSINESS.
The coporate world is full of self promoters who scratch their way up the career ladder. I have witnessed my share of those who broadcast their wins loud enough for their boss’s boss’s boss to hear. I have also witnessed my share of those who distort the magnitude of their latest project to plump up their end of year review. To be honest, I know these people are rewarded and I’m not going to say they probably don’t deserve it either. But at what cost?
The cost of self promotion for me is the extra energy it takes to make known my accomplishments when frankly, they speak for themselves. The cost of poking my head out to play Nosey McNoserson while investigating my coworker’s latest and greatest for the only outcome of doing it better myself is just too tiring. How do I know this? I’ve been there. It got me nowhere.
A friend of mine told m something a year ago I’ve applied to my corporate job. She advised me to “keep my head down, work hard and God will recognize me as He sees fit.”
Keep my head down.
Work hard on the task at hand.
Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.
God will bless it.
Just as Jesus said He was about His Father’s business in Luke 2:49 You too are about your Father’s business in the corporate world. A true success that I believe God honors is when we focus on what we can do at that moment and do it with excellence. The business world is full of fakers, so being about your Father’s business with authenticity, honesty and humility already sets you up to navigate the career path with success.
Keep your head down, sister!
Lets brainstorm together and come up with ways to be successful at work with out the draining act of self promotion. What are some ways that you are about your Father’s business and stay focused on the task at hand rather than your office mate’s win at work?
