Careerism?

I meant to write this post on Friday night or Saturday afternoon, but by the time my weekend class was over I wanted to head straight home. However, there was something the professor of my financing higher education class said that really hit home, and brought me back to an internal conversation I had been ignoring for a long time.

Although we had eight hours of class time, during which I learned a great deal, there was one particular lesson that struck a personal chord. The professor spoke of the two "diseases" which were most poisonous to today's institutions (and organizations/businesses in general). These two diseases were jobism and careerism. By jobism, he was referring to those people who come into work just to put in their 40 hours and get paid...so they can go get on with their life. Careerism refers to those who are so focused on the next step in their career that they cannot focus on their current position. I'm pretty darn sure I suffer from the second of those diseases.

I'm always thinking to myself "Well, when I finally get a job in this office..." or "Well, when I have less administrative tasks and more fun projects...". I'm also focused on the when and the if, rather than the here and now. It really bothers me, and causes me to wonder when it all started. I'm really trying to watch it so that I not only use this job in order to propel me to where I want to go, but in addition, add some value to the department while I'm here. It's going to be a hard road, considering that my self-esteem is still taking hits every now and then (mostly self-inflicted), but I know I can do it. And you are all more than welcome to hold me to this!

I commit to live in the here and now, not only in life...but at work as well.