Young Professional Careers: Rising Above the Grind
The 19th Austin Under 40 Awards with Teresa Granillo and Amy Mills
This is the first of a three-part series examining the Three Cs: Career, Community and Caring for ourselves and others.
I was honored with the inaugural Mentor of the Year Award at Austin Under 40 in 2015. I was the first Over 40 to win at the Under 40! I was nominated because of the many opportunities I’ve had to meaningfully connect with countless young professionals from all walks of life, over the course of decades. I’ve mentored them and they’ve mentored me. Most young professionals I know are looking for balance when it comes to the Three Cs: Career, Community involvement and Caring for themselves and others. These three things are the mainstay of their lives: they are building their professional portfolio, eager to give back, and starting families or caring for elders - all at the same time. I created the Three Cs based on years of conversation and common themes on these topics.
When I look back over the course of my own life and career so far, these three things have not evolved separately. It’s been a big mixed bag, and honestly that approach has served me pretty well. And yet so many people I talk to try so hard to compartmentalize for the sake of “time-management” or other code for modern-day sanity. I’m concerned that when we look at these three areas in a vacuum, instead of as a set that work in synergy together, it can lead to feeling even more unfulfilled in our lives.
For example, I know for certain I accomplish most in my career when I focus first on community and caring - meaning I make time for volunteerism, Board service, self-care, and putting family first. Counter-intuitive? Maybe, but the more I invest in these things, the more my career has benefited. When we adopt a Three Cs mindset, we see our lives, work and impact more holistically. And, no, working at a nonprofit doesn’t have to be the only way you can really give back. In the next few posts I will run through these concepts. Let’s start with the first C: Career.
The First C: Career
Young professional high performers have a lot going for them. They are hard workers. They can adapt quickly to new environments and still get results. They leverage their personal resources and still tap into the power of team collaboration. Others admire them from afar.
Yet while these high performers are busy getting results, continuously rising expectations (of themselves, and from others) make it difficult for them to stop and question their current circumstance or the true impact they want to have. They are often good at pretty much anything, so the very act of accomplishment is validating, even if it’s not the type of accomplishment they originally set out to achieve. So many of them just keep on grinding, confusing success or fulfillment with completion.
The problem is, after years of the grind, many high performers face burnout. Not just from working too hard, but from not having been intentional about their purpose. It manifests, usually later in their careers, as:
Wanting to quit but not being sure what to do next
Feeling lost and unsure about the impact they have had or want to have
Falsely feeling like they can only have an impact after they “earn more” or are retired
But it’s possible to have a well-rounded career and avoid the typical pitfalls that some young high-performers face. Here’s how:
1. Rise above the grind. If you are a high performer (which you likely are if you’ve read this far), and you haven’t taken time lately to look inward and discover what lights you up, I recommend doing that work as soon as you can. It’s tempting to chase the next position, the next promotion or the next great company that could push your job title to the next level. You can absolutely still strive for those things. But you’ll be better off once you have a firm understanding of why you’re making the career choices you are making, how these choices align with your skills and aspirations, and what the results mean to you personally. You have to be intentional. You see, when you’re a high performer, you can usually do anything. So, you start out doing the grind, and doing it really well. And what happens when you do something really well? You get more of it! Over and over again. If you’re feeling dissatisfied, raise your head up and ask: “Am I where I am because I deliberately chose this path? Or am I half-way down a road I never really intended to go down?”
2. Identify first with your discipline, not your employer. Too often, we tie our worth to the company we work for and forget to identify with our field, our discipline, the overarching career path that will carry us from employer to employer as our skills develop. By assigning more value to your branch of knowledge or specialty, instead of your employer du jour, you will identify opportunities across industries and business types in ways that you may otherwise miss. Job security is a myth, the industry we work in is never guaranteed; in 10 years, it will likely be obsolete or radically different. So we have to cultivate the abilities and experiences within our field that transcend where we work, and over time create a marketable package of transferable skills. I’ve worked in six different industry sectors over the course of my career: higher ed, government, healthcare, manufacturing, non-profit, financial services – and my career has progressed rapidly. I believe in part that is because I deeply understand the value of my discipline and have always personally invested in it through training, education, networking and relationships. This does not mean I haven’t valued my employers – of course I have! But it does mean I haven’t let the job openings at any given place dictate my career path just because “it was there.” Instead, I’ve been intentional about what’s best for my career as I progress in my field. This has prevented me from getting half-way down that unwanted road I mentioned before.
3. Start with where you are. A lot of people lament jobs that don’t feel fulfilling, or look for companies that have a clear community mission or allow employees to give back on the job. Many young professionals I talk to are considering quitting for-profit jobs and seeking out work at a non-profit to feel “happier.” Whatever your story, you don’t have to jump ship or make a drastic change to start the process of a more satisfying use of your daytime. You can start by finding ways right where you are to make a difference in the causes that mean something to you. It could mean spearheading a giving back program within your current company. Or organizing a group to participate in a fundraising 5K. It could mean starting an informal coffee club with people you identify with around mutual interests. Or volunteering more, or joining a committee at a non-profit that means something to you, your family or your company. Organizations like Leadership Austin, the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce, Young Women’s Alliance, Young Men’s Business League and I Live Here I Give Here all have active programs and great resources for young people looking to further engage with their community. In the next post in this series, I will detail more on this second C of the Three Cs: Community involvement - How Service Accelerates Skill.