On the Job

1-- Be Here Now: Focus on the Job What is the difference between a career and a job, anyway? A career is the sum of all the jobs you've ever had. A career is described in retrospect. But "work" is what you live every day. Work is what this book is about. It's a supremely important lesson that everyone needs to learn -- or to be reminded about from time to time: Your career is whatever job you hold today. And, further, the way you deal with your current job is what matters most. Each step of the way, at every job, you're continually creating your identity, forming habits, and cultivating your values and beliefs. That's why slacking off is so dangerous; not only can it badly damage your reputation, but also, more important, it has a negative impact on your self-esteem. Committing to doing your best and extracting the most value from where you work now is the antidote to boredom and burnout. Although this advice may sound like common sense, oddly enough, there are very few resources available that show how to stay focused on work, at work. Plenty of books offer advice on how to forge a career, assemble a portfolio of skills and connections, and integrate work with outside life -- all of which is fine. But these guides usually omit the biggest subject: Most of our work life is spent working. Your Worst job is a special case. Any new worker has basics to learn about work life and organizational mores, and it doesn't matter all that much where you acquire them. (This book can shorten the curve by over 50 percent if you pay close attention!) And don't worry: Your career is whatever job you hold today does not mean that you're doomed to remain an executive assistant, that you'll be stuck at a copy shop instead of making it big as a DJ, or that you'll be spending the rest of your life writing ads for kitchen cleansers. What it does mean is that your career is the totality of all your jobs, and each one of them counts. Not equally, to be sure, but you might be surprised by unexpected outcomes of a seemingly lackluster job. From Niches to Riches So often, young people become impatient and feel that the job they are doing today is too demeaning to lead to a career. This attitude leads to what I call AADD, or adult attention deficit disorder, the inability to focus on the job at hand. My own work history is a perfect illustration of what can happen if you overcome AADD -- a seemingly menial job turning out to be the seed of a fabulous career. Let me explain. My family just happened to live in a house that was located next to a furniture store called The Modern Furniture Barn. I was sixteen when the seventy-two-year-old owner and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Euster who ran the store day and night, hired me. Our clients were mostly doctors, lawyers, dentists, and other upscale types from throughout the New York metropolitan area and Fairfield County, Connecticut, who were all hungry for the latest craze of bubble lamps and Eames chairs. I was a file clerk, filing the various furniture catalogs and price lists away during hectic weekends when couples came in to purchase their furniture. I earned $10 an hour, far above the 1979 minimum wage of around $2.75. It was not a typical job for a teenager, but I took it very seriously, distributing catalogs around the store, polishing the various glass tables with Windex, and occasionally going across the street to the local 7 Eleven to pick up Entenmann's and coffee for the staff. Maybe because my mom had been in retail, I was drawn to selling. So although I wasn't hired to sell, I was always eager to ask or answer a customer's question. Despite the fact that the other salespeople resented my enthusiasm, I found learning about the business both fun and fascinating. I was amazed, for example, at the price of furniture. Could an Eames lounge chair and ottoman for the living room really cost $2,000? [read more]