What you pick up along the way....

Last week, as I was working on preparing the time management seminar I will be presenting soon, I recalled one nugget of advice I received early in my career. Right out of college I worked in sales, which was a vocation I really wasn't cut out for. My boss told me that I should start my day with the task I dreaded the most. If you get that out of the way, you can enjoy the rest of the day. You are also more productive, because you don't spend your day worrying about how the task will go. Great advice which I have followed and appreciated.

So this afternoon at a 4th of July party that we attended at the home of the parents' of some friends of ours, I ran into that boss that shared the time management gem with me. I was standing by him at the drink cooler, and despite the 16 years since I last saw him, I recognized him immediately. I left that first job to return to graduate school, and then I kept going to school, leading to my current job as a college professor. And I still do my least favored tasks first.

It just reminds me that you can always learn something to keep moving forward in your career. And much of what you can learn is from those you work with. When I was considering returning to graduate school to work on a doctorate, a woman I worked with told me that being a professor is an ideal career if you are raising a family. Childless at the time, I didn't give her comment a second thought. But, she was right and I am glad I decided to make the move.

So pay attention to what those around you have to say. You never know what you might pick up that you can use.