We recently promoted our corporate accounts and administration head, Saurabh Singh. He joined us in 2011 – a staggering 12 years ago, as a trainee, just as most of our employees do. So what’s the secret of his success? You’ll hear it from the horse’s mouth to, eventually, but for now, take my word for it: I reckon it’s because didn’t join a job; he took up a career.
What’s the difference?
A job is something you do short-term, with a specific goal in mind. Maybe you want to make ends meet and pay your bills; maybe you don’t know what else to do; maybe you just want to make some new friends.
All these can be good reasons to find employment, but they’re not what a career is about.
A career is something that entails a fundamental requirement of life: personal growth.
A career lets you explore various aspects of yourself that prevent you from stagnating. It gives you the opportunity to first thrive within your comfort zone, but then go outside it and test yourself. Because only if you take the risk of diving into the sea can you discover the greater part of the iceberg.
Most of all, a career lets you achieve something that’s beyond your individual interests. It’s not about becoming somebody; a career utilises the somebody that you are to help you do something significant in the world. You lose any self-centredness you may have and learn to work with people, for people. You dream and start seeing further ahead.
Whatever you exercise and stretch starts growing, and so does farsight. It makes you a leader.
But having a career needs you to give up one thing: a short attention span.
You cannot build a Rome in a year. Or even 10. Life and time are the two building blocks of anything significant and meaningful in the world. And when you invest those two, things you never thought of can happen. Remember, they who have the patience to let a tree grow are the ones who get to enjoy its fruits.
Saurabh’s Rome is still work in progress. And it’s going to be glorious. Yours can be too.
Have a farsighted month!
