“Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.”  1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (The Message)

Who owns your career?  Have you ever thought about it?

When the show is over, say thank you, pack your gear and move on to the next venue.

As I completed my formal education and began my non-student working life, I thought the company where I worked had a plan for me.  That is, I thought they would observe my good work and bring me a series of interesting opportunities at increasing levels of responsibility and reward.  It wasn’t a bad thought.  After all, when I joined the company, I entered a training program and worked on a series of projects that provided me with exposure and insight into how the company really worked.

From there, I received my first assignment, and from there, I was recruited into a fascinating research and development project.  That led to a product development role, which led to a product management job with great responsibility and autonomy.  It seemed every few years the company came up with some new challenge and I grabbed it with both hands.

I should probably point out that although I was flexible, I had determined to work in the three principal disciplines of my industry — make stuff, sell stuff, and count the money.  Once I had learned these three, I could figure it out from there.

Along the way I learned what I enjoyed and where I added the greatest value.  I also learned that not every lesson  — and not every job — is fun or pleasant.  Above the specifics of the job, however, I made it a point to value people.  The most important lesson, though, was to take ownership of my career.

This required a change of mindset, as up to that point, I was content to see what opportunities the company would bring my way.  Now, older and more experienced, there were not as many opportunities that made economic sense or fit my strengths.  I had to weigh my options more carefully, but I had to be the one assessing my opportunities and pursuing the ones that made sense.

All the world’s a stage

So now let me paint a word picture for you:  In addition to my career, I’m also a musician.  Professional musicians usually work by booking an engagement in advance, traveling to the gig, performing, getting paid, and moving on to the next performance.  No one doubts that a musician owns his career, but you should own yours, too.

Here’s how I view it: The company is the stage where I’m performing now.  I’ve had a good run so far, and the audience — my boss , my colleagues, my suppliers and my customers — have been appreciative.  Eventually, though, the show will end.  When it’s over, a pro will say thank you, pack his gear and move on to the next venue.

Ben Stein said one should always approach his work like a contract employee — if you’re not producing value, you’re not going to remain employed.  Musicians have the same challenge: we create value by drawing a crowd and keeping them entertained. If you want to be a rock star in your work life, own your career the way a musician does.

So how about you? How do you generate value and deliver results in your work?  Add your comments below.

I remember a business book published some years ago whose title was “Free, Perfect, and Now.”  The author’s thesis was that customers’ demands had never been higher, and that those who wished to attract and keep those customers needed to be prepared for this new level of expectation.

There’s no such thing as free time.

I suppose it’s a sign of our comparative prosperity that we can expect — and receive on demand — products of such quality and at such a low price.  At the same time, though, I think that the allure of free is hurting us as a people.

Investment equals engagement
In the various opportunities I’ve had to lead, I have noticed that men tend to pay more attention and to generate better results when they have skin in the game.  I’m not a participant in any fantasy sports leagues, but my friends who are report that the degree of engagement and enjoyment of participants tracks with the entry fees required.  This isn’t surprising, since we confer value – genuine value – in those things we’re willing to pay for.

I saw a bit of this dynamic playing out way back in high school.  Some guys I knew worked weekends, nights and summers  and saved to buy their first cars.  These guys took great pride in — and great care of — those cars.  Then there were the guys who received cars as gifts from their parents or grandparents.  It wasn’t true in every case, but far more of those cars ended up wrapped around trees than the ones that were earned the hard way.  Could it be that the drivers who worked for their cars were more careful drivers?

Time and money
What is money, after all?  A convenient common denominator for labor.  So when we spend money it is a representation of all those hours and all that toil.  When we get for free what others have worked for, it erodes the foundation of value and satisfaction.  It also weakens our ability to delay gratification and to persevere.

Ben Stein once wrote that lawyers and exterminators do very similar work, but under drastically different conditions and for significantly different wages.  This is, as Stein points out, a function of supply and demand.  The costs of a legal education are higher than the costs of an exterminator’s training and certification.  As a result, there are fewer lawyers than exterminators, so lawyers make more money.

You get what you pay for
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that my purpose in writing it is to encourage and motivate you toward Thriving, Authentic Masculinity.  That takes in a lot of territory, and it will take time to get there. You can put what we talk about here into practice by making it a point to invest in this process.    Obviously, work is a necessary first step.  Earn your own money and then begin to upgrade — your skills, your manners, your mind, your health, your wardrobe, your character.  You already know excellence is rare, so become excellent and you become more valuable.  It can be done!

We value things more highly when we’ve expended the labor for them.  When your reputation is based on fluff, or on family connections instead of genuine accomplishment, it’s easy to feel like an impostor.  By contrast, when you’ve put in the time and done the hard work, you’re less vulnerable to that kind of self-doubt.

In Part II, we’ll talk about specific ways the allure of free is threatening our well-being.

So how about you?  Where are you willing to invest — your time, your money, yourself — to make a lasting impact?  Add your comments below.