Professional Development

What are you choosing?

What are you choosing?

For the last 14 days I’ve been contemplating what makes some young professionals rock their careers and others flounder. Even with things like talent, intelligence, and charisma being equal, you’ll find huge variances among young professionals’ level of success.

So, what causes some of us to be Rockstars and others of us to go undetected in our cubicles?

If you’ve read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, then you know that some of us succeed because of the month we’re born in, the family we have, and the opportunities we’re given. The premise of Outliers is that there are no true “rags to riches” stories. People who are successful got there because of their circumstances. Even Bill Gates who is often thought of as a genius and, well, a rockstar, is successful because (1) the year he was born (1955), and (2) his access to a computer at a time when no one else had this access to one (thanks to the mother’s club at Lakeside School).

When you look at it that way, it can be kind of depressing. What if you were born in December (thereby, never getting on a Canadian hockey team)? Or, to a poor family who showed no interest in your education? Or, you got assigned to bad school, with a teacher? Is there any hope for you?

I believe there is.

I believe there is a choice. Gladwell talks about the success of the Beatles in the book. He says they became the incredibly huge stars becuase they were offered to the chance to play night after night after night on stage, a total of 10,000 hours. That’s what made them successful. They practiced and practiced and practiced. And, eventually they became megastars.

But, what if they turned down that gig? What if they said, “No, thanks. We’re good,” and decided it wasn’t worth it. Would they have become the rockstars they were?

I don’t know. But, I do know that they had a choice. They were open to the opportunity.

Outliers claims that there is a chain of events that happen to determine the outcome of your ultimate success. You’re born to a wealthy family who teaches you how interact with others and sends you to the best schools and introduces you to the right people when you graduate who get you the best career ever. Or, you’re born to a family who is more worried about putting food on the table than your education and who make you get a job after school which hurts your grades but you still get into a state college but you can’t relate to your classmates or your professors so you drop out and take a crappy dead-end job. You get the idea. Either it’s going to happen for you or it isn’t.

Somewhere in there, though, there’s opportunity to fail or to succeed. There’s a choice to take the interview your parents set up. And, there’s a choice to drop out of school. There’s a choice to recognize a gap and close it, and there’s a choice to blame others for your failure.

Are some people victims of their circumstances? Yes. Some people have truly had their choices taken away from them because of abuse, neglect, or worse. Most of us, though, have a choice to make about what path we want to take. Do we want to practice for 10,000 hours or do we want to take our chances with just 100 hours?

What choice are you making?

• Are you choosing to do your best work?
• Are you choosing to find a mentor?
• Are you choosing to build a network?
• Are you choosing to seek opportunities that will allow you to grow?
• Are you choosing to build your brand?
• Are you choosing to help others?
• Are you choosing to be open to the all the possibilities that come your way?

Or, are you choosing to be a victim of your circumstances? Are you choosing to rely on the luck of the draw?

Are you choosing to be a Rockstar?

Got something to add? Every time you comment on a Girl Meets Business post during The YP Rockstar series in January, you will be entered to win a one-year membership to the WE 4 LIFE coaching program (a $588 value!) provided by Jenny Ferry of Crest of Your Life. Share your thoughts and be a Comment Rockstar!