The 3 Most Important Lessons I Learned in the First Year of My Career

One year ago, a nervous woman pulled into a parking space - the same space she parked three other times that lead to this moment.  It was 7:35am and she had 25 minutes before she should be inside.  The car was in park, but her hands were still gripped, white-knuckled on the steering wheel of her Dodge.  She stared across the street and with cold sweat dripping down her neck and the world’s BIGGEST butterfly in her stomach as she let out one last prayer.  She nervously walked in 15 minutes later, where she encountered a big smile from the woman at the front desk.  She welcomed the woman by name and directed her to another woman equipped with a bright smile.  Over the next 9 hours, the woman met dozens of people whose names took her months to remember, sat through training with a woman that had a future as an auctioneer, and forgot to eat lunch.

———————————————

No this isn’t the intro to the next New York Times Best-Seller. This was me on my first day of work for my first full-time job. I often laugh at the fact that I showed up in a blazer and barely spoke because now I push the more casual side of “business casual” as I scream “Jennifer!!!!!” down the hall as I bust into her office. The Internet (and admittedly, myself included) is obsessed with blogs and articles formatted as lists, so without further ado….

The 3 Most Important Lessons I Learned in the First Year of My Career

1- The Key to Leadership is Love

You would think launching my career a month after being named President of the Year, Sorority Woman of the Year, and Outstanding Student Leader of the Year, I would be equipped to lead in the small capacity I need to in my position. I encountered people and personalities more difficult that late dues, big/little pairings, and extension votes in my first few weeks. For months I sassed back, ignored them, and discovered how to silence my phone when they called, so they didn’t know I was ignoring them. None of this helped anyone, but I was at a loss. Where could I turn? How about here (my notes in black):

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love [leadership] is patient, love [leadership] is kind. It [leadership] does not envy, it [leadership] does not boast, it [leadership is not proud. It[leadership] does not dishonor others, it [leadership] is not self-seeking, it [leadership] is not easily angered, it [leadership] keeps no record of wrongs. Love [leadership] does not delight in evil but [leadership] rejoices with the truth. It [leadership] always protects, [leadership] always trusts, [leadership] always hopes, [leadership] always perseveres. Love [leadership] never fails... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

--1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13

2- Fellowship is a Two-Way Street

Let’s go back to my New York Times Best-Selling Novel opening scene. The potential auctioneer woman intimidated me….not just my first day, but for MONTHS. She worked with purpose, stayed late, and walked almost as fast as she talked. But there was one thing I liked about her, she had a Bible verse on her desk. To be honest, I had forgotten about it, and as I always do - avoided my intimidator. Fast-forward: through a really rare occasion we got to work as a team together on her project and got to know each other REALLY well (like going to concerts together, inside jokes, etc. well). As our friendship grew, we grew in fellowship together. It started as “I need help with work stuff” to “God has been laying _____ on my heart” and “I’m praying for you.” I learned through our interactions that I couldn’t just suck her knowledge out of her, expect her to just drop everything to teach me how to do something, but I had to give something back. It started with writing thank you notes and intentionally making sure she knew I appreciated her help to dropping to my knees in prayer for her daily and sending her blogs and bible verses that capture the season of her life. Each day I see one of us stressed and the other seek God to find the strength to carry the other. I had been used to a broken form of “fellowship” that I’d missed out on the beautiful relationship that God intended it to be.

“Over broken bread we share broken hearts. And then we celebrate the parts of us that are still in tact. We reach across the table and across our differences to grab hold of the glorious bond of friendship.”

--Lysa TerKeurst

3- What Really Matters

Chicken Little - the most perfect nickname I was ever given. I make Martha look like the least worried woman on the planet some days. I’m dramatic. I’m emotional. I’m stressed. I cry. I worry. I make myself sick. I’m not a surgeon. I’m not a rocket scientist. I’m not in a position that if I push something off for an hour or until the next day, the world will blow up or lives will be lost. But as I talked about here, I’ve fallen victim to letting this control me (and my work). But as I look back at this blog alone, I see that I continually rediscover what really matters. For example: this, that, and dis.

“He’s calling us to the Great Exchange - the one where we can never lose. As we trade the ‘many things’ that make us anxious, he gives us the ‘one thing’ that calms our hearts. Himself. For he is the Prince of Peace.”

--Joanna Weaver

Year One - you were rough, you brought tears, but you taught much.