Sometimes we find ourselves stuck in situations or doing things that we would rather not be involved in and do not want to do.
Consider this. What if there is something there for you that you must have in order to be ready for a future opportunity that you really do want?
After deciding to leave a position as a food and beverage director of a hotel, but now knowing what was next, I engaged with a temporary employment agency. Immediately, I was offered a position with a software development company. Specifically, electronic data interchange (EDI). At that time in my life, I wanted nothing to do with computers. I wouldn’t even play video games because they made me nervous and stressed out. Naturally, I declined. A week later I called to see if they had any opportunities for me and I was offered the same position I had declined the previous week. Another week goes by and I call again. Same job was offered. Again, I declined. By the fourth week, I was completely broke and when they offered the same job yet again, I said “I’ll take it and I can start tomorrow.”
I needed the money and hated the tasks I was assigned. I was typing the same information in three different formats for three different departments. I figured since I had to be there, I should take advantage of every piece of knowledge I could gain. So, when my boss went out of town, a friend in development gave me a program that I could break and rebuild so I could type it once and export it three different ways. I didn’t know if I was going to be praised or get fired. When my boss returned, I showed him what I had done. From that point forward, my willingness and drive to fully engage (even though I had no intention of this being my life career) was rewarded with the approval for every technology course I asked to take. I learned HTML, got sent home with a laptop, mastered Photoshop, became Microsoft Certified and shortly after became a Key Account Rep at the same company.
Let’s be clear. I still didn’t want to be there…but I needed to be.
Twelve years later, I had the privilege of being the CEO for a non-profit home health agency that was in a dire financial position. I was able to turn that company around in under a year.
How are the two related? You see, the money they had lost was a result of denied claims from not submitting them correctly in an electronic format. In other words, no one understood EDI (electronic data interchange). But I did.
The moral of that story is that if I had not taken it upon myself to purposely learn all that I could during the time I was at the software company, it would not have been possible. You see, I could only help the home health agency because I made a point to help myself years prior. Learn everything you can, everywhere you go, just because you can.
You just never know where the knowledge may be needed in the future.