You are your Ancestor’s wildest dream!
“While it is valuable to know what is trending, it is critical to contemplate what benefits your future and empower you to fulfill your potential. Assess viable options. When I transitioned from my military career, I had to balance my internal and external needs. I highly recommend the same introspective for other transitioning veterans!”
Experiences have more excellent value than material things. Value is the goal. Be honest with yourself, and find the path that illuminates your purpose and drives you to a better life. Some pointers I thought hard about were:
- Precision Analysis.
- Treat interviews as two-way conversations.
- All organizations have motives. Know what they are.
- Know, “I have the power to own my experiences and evaluate potential actions.”
- Know, “I have the power to make wise choices based on the analysis.”
- Balance your external mind with your internal mind
- Balance purpose with an acquisition.
As I prepared for my transition from military service, I realized successful people built success by learning from their failures through experiences throughout their journeys. If I wanted to become successful, I quickly understood that I needed to fail fast to learn faster, given the lack of time I faced given back to the service of my country. On a family trip to Michigan one month, I spoke to a friend, a Marine Officer transitioning after 20 years of service. He asked me what my percentage of job offers received to interviews I went on. He was nervous about separating from the military. I told him that he needed to examine closely the word “transition” and what it meant to him personally as it would be undoubtedly different. “I told him to question others about their failures as the nuggets of their successes empathetically are rooted there.”
“I told him that while I may appear successful, I am a cultured product of the lessons I learned from my failures. My successes are nothing more but flowers planted in the soil of these failures.“
I gained more from my experiences than experiences talked about by others. Understanding their failures however provided me a NorthStar in navigating my journey.
During my time in the Navy, I had the opportunity to visit many countries and sample many cultures. The difference between Eastern and Western culture struck me as polar. The Western world is programmed to think externally and materialistic. Eastern culture is purpose-based and thinks internally. While either extreme can unbalance thoughts, I believe that the ultimate goal is to balance and find happiness inside. Happiness, followed by attachment and unfulfilled desires, leads to frustration and anger. I learned to examine what makes me happy, what defines me. I recommended to my friend to work in a field that enhances happiness and builds a better you.
Before beginning the Professional MBA Program at the George Washington University, I gained valuable experience, awareness, and cutting edge business practices as my career encompassed experiencing world-class technology and methods in the industry from diverse organizations/brands. I quickly understood my fit between three career types; Sole Contributor, Organizational Leadership, and Project Management. As I looked at successes and failures, I began to understand who I am. At the same time, I was working towards an MBA with an emphasis in Business Analytics and Finance, and growing as a Senior Leader. I had to consult my friend telling him that while my background is mine: You must conduct your soul search, weighing your history, your internal standards, values, and your honest feelings about opportunities. While senior leadership was my answer, do not settle for a job that does not fulfill your potential, but delve deep into your internal workings and weigh job descriptions. Make a plan based on your analysis to become your ancestor’s wildest dream! Going into the world without a plan is planning to fail. When you secure the interview, make it a two-way discussion, analyze the data to make an informed decision. It is up to you to plan the garden, work the soil, and plant your seeds in the soil of your failures to grow flowers of success.
