A Self Defining Role
- Post By: Greg Crumpton
- Date:
- Category: Blog
It’s the day after Christmas and I am sitting here at the keyboard crunching away. Crunching away in an attempt to answer the big question that always comes up at this time of year: What does next week, next year, or five years from now, look and feel like?
My answer is: yes.
Yes indeed it’s important to plan for next week, and equally so for next year, but if we don’t know where we’re going in five years we will surely be lost.
The next question is: How do we get to where we want to go? Your employer may help you, your family may help you, your spouse no doubt has some ideas on how to help you, but at the end of the day it comes down to you. As it comes down to each one of us.
Part of my job is to ask my people to look ahead. Where should we go as a company? Where would they like to be in 12 months? What are they willing to commit to to help them get there? All of these are relevant questions in my mind. However, I can’t answer any of these for them, this long-term vision or destiny has to come from within.
Thinking back 25 years, I remember some of the things that I recorded in print that I wanted to accomplish. One of those was starting a company called AirTight Mechanical, Incorporated. It took 10 more years to be able to fulfill the dream. We worked hard, we learned, we saved, we borrowed and then we took that leap of faith. My point is not to pat myself or Connie on the back, but to stress the importance of having a plan and then working the plan all the way to completion.
Do you ever know all the obstacles you’re going to face along the way? Absolutely not! Do you ever plan as thoroughly as you should? Absolutely not, because you don’t know what you have to plan for. But still, you must plan.
Two weeks ago I met with a couple of our technical team leaders, Chris and Nate. As we were discussing our technicians and their desire for more training, and on what types and brands of equipment, we decided that we would poll each one to determine how they wanted to help create their own roadmap to success. It’s a big step on the road to a self defining role.
I think this has been around forever, I just think it took me forever to see that it was around. It seems like every day when I read blogs and web posts, we’re all focused on one thing – living a fulfilled life. The problem with that is we all have a different definition of fulfilled. That’s the way it should be, no one knows what your fulfillment is or how to achieve it better than you do.
Just around the corner is New Year’s Day, a day where so many people make resolutions, a day were so many people really just fantasize. I call it a fantasy because they’re not willing to make those resolutions a true roadmap due to a lack of commitment to a plan. I know that I’ve certainly failed to see many of my January 1 declarations through, however I know I do much better when I plan my route to accomplishment.
If you’re going to make a New Year’s resolution, make it a strong commitment to define your own role in life.
Live well – only you know what that means for you.
Greg
