It's been a while since I've blogged and, while I have an excuse, it's not a particularly good one. There have been a lot of changes going on at work (it's our constant state) and I've taken on a new role. Two months into the new role, I'm at a familiar point and looking back at the fun and excitement that is Beginning.
This is role number... I've-lost-count and I'm noticing some interesting patterns around taking on a new job. I've always loved the Beginning. It's fun and exciting; there are lots of new things to learn and people to meet. The Beginning is the start of a new school year - a time I've always loved - a time when there are no exams and no drama, just old friends and hope for a great year.
Then a few months in, the weather starts to change (and this is why I love New England - the weather reflects the arc of a story so well), it gets colder and darker and you start to have homework and exams. You're no longer just reviewing what you learned last year, you're getting tested on new material you're learning for the first time. Things are starting to get tougher.
You cram and you study and you write papers and you pass your mid-term exam and go on to celebrate over Winter vacation. You come back and you're a new person. You're a real whatever-your-grade-is-'er. You've hit a stride, continue to study and challenge yourself and practice what you learn. The weather finally starts looking up again, starting off a little rainy but getting sunnier and lighter by the day. You spot a flower here, a bird there, and then suddenly it's practically Summer. Final exams pass and you feel older and wiser and ready to move on to the next step. You've mastered another grade.
Amazingly, I feel like I relive that experience over and over again in my job. Each time I go into a new role, it's new and exciting. So much to learn and figure out. New people to work with. Uncertainty around how this role will play out. And then the novelty wears off and the work settles in. You realize that your early wins in the new role were true experiences of Beginner's Luck. You make more mistakes and are more uncertain than you were when you didn't even know what your job was.
This is a time of hard work. Straight up hard work. In some ways, I do love this time - it truly shows what you're made of. Of course, in other ways, I hate it, because it truly shows what you're made of.
I'm not sure if I'm addicted to the excitement of the Beginning or the hard work After the Beginning. It's tough, it's uncomfortable, but like exercise, it makes you stronger and healthier because of it. (If only I could get addicted to exercise the way I'm addicted to new roles at work.) I hope that, when all is said and done, the Beginnings I've experienced are nothing compared to the After the Beginnings and that I feel older and wiser and ready to move on to the next step.
Flickr photo credit: Amit Chattopadhyay
