Quit Complaining! Part 2

If you haven’t heard I recently switched jobs. I’m enjoying the new gig and it’s keeping me busy. New responsibilities, new faces, and increased expectations are making the days go by fast. I’m learning a lot and working hard to meet the goals of the company as well as my own. It easily makes a 24 hour day seem like 15 minutes. Add new schools for the kids and a host of other projects (you’ve heard of some of them, haven’t you?) and you have a tired not-so-young man. Sleep never felt so good!

It’s had some challenges, mostly mental. I’m used to working from a position of comfort-with my surroundings, colleagues, and goals-in order to effectively do my job. This took years to create. I’m used to being the veteran and now I’m the rookie. This limbo period between being a trainee and being a seasoned professional is uncomfortable for me. Now I understand how new hires felt at H&M as I guided them through their first few days or weeks. It’s that feeling of uncertainty. It’s difficult to figure out what to do; for example, when to defer to your trainers and when you should take charge and use what they hired you for to get things done. It’ll correct itself soon enough. I just need to be patient.

When all’s said and done it’s been a great experience so far. I’ll admit, however, that there’s been a time or two recently where I’ve been short-tempered and frustrated with my progress. Then I recently pulled this article from my Google Reader and everything fell into the proper perspective:

20-Year Student Becomes Police Chief in Mexican Town

“Marisol Valles, a 20-year-old criminology student, has just been named police chief for the town of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, near the U.S. border. Reportedly, there wasn’t a whole lot of competition for the job — others members of the force have been abducted and killed by narcotraffickers in recent years”

Articles like this that help me to get back on track. How can you not be humbled by Marisol’s decision to take on this incredible responsibility? That’s a level of bravery that’s inspiring and frightening. Combine that with the fact that she’s young and a student and I’m more than impressed-I’m in awe of what she’s attempting to do. I wish her and the town the best of luck.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-Human Resources isn’t rocket science. We are in positions in which we can do so much good. What needs to happen is we need to focus on what is truly important-making the people and organizations we work for the best they can be. Contrast that with Marisol’s situation and I think you’ll agree it shouldn’t be that difficult to do.

Quit complaining!

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