A recipe for professional success

A couple of years ago, when I first graduated college and got a job in the city, I became excited and fascinated with the atmosphere that was in and around the financial district, where I would be working. It was just like I had seen in the movies and imagined it to be: everyone walking around in business suits and holding computers and briefcases, looking important. I had longed for a while to be in such a business-oriented atmosphere. For some reason, this completely appealed to me. It is amazing what can change in a matter of a couple of years. I now see people walking around the financial district seemingly trapped in a business suit. Instead of being excited to go to work every day, I now felt that I was getting up every morning not to live life, but to do my typical morning getting-ready routine, go to work, and be chained to my desk and computer by monotone tasks and seemingly unnecessary requests.

Sometimes can stretch the chain a little—escape for a while to run a couple of errands or get coffee or just go for a walk for the purpose of getting away for a bit. In those instances, however, I find myself mentally chained to my desk. I find myself checking my Blackberry and thinking about the rest of the day and what there is still left to do. I feel the dread inside of heading back into the towering building where I am enclosed by walls, windows, staples, and more tasks. I am now feeling victim to the life that I wanted before. At the end of the day, I think back to all the time wasted by meaningless meetings, memos, action steps, and tasks that keep getting piled on. I didn’t realize this is how I felt about my job at all, until one day something just struck me; I was in just that, a job, not even the start of a career. It took about an instant to suddenly see a flash of everything that I could be doing instead of wasting my time in an office staring at my computer and hoping that maybe someone changes a status on Facebook.

When I return home after work, I feel tired from the day and unmotivated to do much else. Plus, I know that very soon I’ll be going to bed, only to wake up again and do it all over again the next day. When I look back on the last two years, I feel that I have definitely had some good opportunities and I have learned a lot. Perhaps the most important things that I have learned, however, is what I don’t wish to be doing; sitting at a desk, staring at a computer, and doing monotone administrative tasks. It starts to get a little sad when the highlight of your day is going to Starbucks to get a coffee.

It’s now time to move on; I am ready for new and better experiences. I am ready to break out of these walls and get out. It’s not that I am lazy and don’t want to work, it’s that I don’t want to be stuck in a place where I feel like I can barely get out of my chair without asking for permission. I’m whipping up a new life, and looking for new recipes. The ingredients I have to work with? Autonomy, social communication, and most importantly—happiness.