Lily Snyder

Welcome to Week 2 of the 1st Quarter Refresh! This month we’re applying The Home Edit by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, not to our closets but to our personal lives. Before we can buy all fancy, new clothes or laptops or podcasting equipment, we first need to take everything out of our proverbial careers to asses them before organizing them.

The first section I flipped to in The Home Edit was the the playroom. I have a toddler. And anyone else who has a toddler knows that toys, crayons, your jewelry, and fridge magnets never stay in their spot. I’ve found empty yogurt containers in my bathroom. My earrings in my toddler’s room. And parts to toys everywhere – upstairs, downstairs, in my bedroom. How are there so many pieces?? Then I read how to maneuver things away from your kids and this line hit me:

If something is missing parts, you will never find them.

– Clea & Joanna

If something is miss parts, you’ll never find them. “Put an end to your misery by getting rid of the incomplete toy.” That triggered a thought in me. If something is missing from our job, we might not ever find it. Whether it be the boss who’s interested in your success, a workplace culture where you fit in, or the type of work you want to do. If you’re not doing it now, you’re working with an incomplete toy and it’s time to throw it away.

I should have done this at my first real job out of college. I didn’t fit in. The job wasn’t what was described. And I hated the commute. Like, I arrived in a bad mood because of the drive into work every day kind of commute. It wasn’t worth it! The situation was missing so many pieces! But I was so determined to make it work because quitting meant admitting failure.

Then I was let go. Fired from my first job after college. My managers realized I was the thing missing pieces so they “threw me away”. (Ok. They were actually really nice about it and said I could put the experience as an Internship on my resume). Ever since that experience, I see it all the time. Sometimes people try to stick with something that isn’t working like I did. And sometimes they do something about it. Someone close to me recently admitted that their job at a big name company isn’t what they thought. They felt like they were a cog in the wheel so they were planning their out. Good for you, I thought.

Today’s Assignment: Assess what’s missing in your job or workplace

Today spend 10 minutes (or 30 or longer) thinking about what you want your job, workplace, or career to look like. Think about what is currently missing. We spend so much time on to be our best selves at work, plus the work itself. We deserve to chase our dreams.

After you’ve made a list, turn them into action items. For instance, my boss doesn’t support me turns into find a mentor. Or this job isn’t why I went to college turns into research people with my degree on LinkedIn.