Recently I came across The Retirement Manifesto blog. The writer is an American called Fritz and is a little ahead of me in terms of early retirement. He wrote a piece about his retirement speech where he listed his six lessons learned during his 33 year career. It is well worth reading and there are many points I completely agree with. In fact, I read the whole post to Rachel who very much liked it! Things I’ve learned from my career
That got me thinking. What lessons have I learned? Here goes….
1. Seek a job/career with a purpose
Make sure you follow a career path where it will be of some use in society. This can be incredibly wide-ranging. Some will believe they have some kind of “calling” because of their beliefs, their convictions or matters of conscience. These are good on the whole and the world needs people whose vocation is to be a surgeon, a nurse, a teacher, an evangelist and the list goes on. I never had a “calling” myself but I respect those who do. It is important to avoid careers which are frivolous, pointless or simply have no real purpose in real life.
With my work in justice, I always believed it had a real purpose. When I was on the front line I used to work with many people who had difficulties and challenges; it was good to play my part in getting someone back onto the right path.
2. Maintain the right balance between work and home life
Without getting the balance right, all kinds of issues can emerge. Too much work can lead to stress, illness, unhealthy pressures and all kinds of relationship problems at home. Too little time at work will raise questions about your commitment, competence and so on.
3. Know where you’re going but don’t over plan
Knowing the general direction you’re wanting to go is good. Being slavish towards it means you might miss other opportunities and life can become dull. I have blogged about this in my career reflections here.
4. Learn as you go – and also from your mistakes
Just because you have completed your education or your training for a job isn’t the end of learning. Grasping that continuous professional development (CPD as the current jargon goes) is positive. No job remains the same forever and with, for example, new technologies always being developed it is vital we all stay up to date with things.
Learning from my many mistakes has sometimes been hard and painful but always worthwhile. Those tough times have often turned out to be periods of significant growth for me.
5. Seek advice and wise counsel
Getting other people’s advice and view on things has become increasingly valuable over the years but it is important to hear from those you respect and have a certain wisdom.
No matter how successful or senior someone is, they can always benefit from some good advice, reflection, challenge or encouragement. Never let pride stand in the way of seeking this out.
6. Know your limits
While being ambitious is generally positive and can be a way of drawing the best out in someone, it is important to be realistic. Taking on too much, working beyond your capacity or understanding can’t be sustained for long. Go as far as you can and then settle.
I once knew a newly appointed Senior Probation Officer who came to me and explained she thought she’s bitten off more than she could chew and how being promoted was probably a mistake. It took a lot of courage to say that and I admired her for having the honesty and integrity to express this. Naturally you want to encourage or reassure someone in that situation and yet I could feel myself agreeing with her. After raising this with me she saw the Chief and stepped back down to her old job. Now some years later she has risen through the ranks and has become an excellent senior manager, arguably because she had then got the timing right.
7. Respect your employer, or leave
I know not everyone will agree with me here but I’m still going to say it. When any of us are drawing a salary we have to tow the line from our employer. We have to follow the general ethos, direction and ethics.
Also we are in a servant-master relationship when we are employed, no matter how we might like to dress things up in fancy job descriptions, trade union negotiations and so on, the reality is that we should obey those in authority over us.
If you find yourself wrestling with new developments or finding the job is contrary to your own values or beliefs, you must leave. I did just that with the Government’s privatisation of the Probation Service. I did give it fair go to see how things were working or not. When I could see the dreadful morals emerging behind the glossy spin, I knew I had to leave. Although I had a tough time in the new job, I know I did the right thing.
The Retirement Manifesto – 6 lessons learned during 33 years in corporate America