This past weekend I watched my 3 ½ year old son play T-ball. It was his first baseball game. As a father and a parent, it was a memory I will never forget.   Watching my children grow up reminds me of when I was a child. I am 42 years old and I am reliving my youth.

This past year, I watched my children have a number of firsts. My daughter lost her first tooth. She learned how to read. She learned to ride her bike. She learned how to tie her shoes. My son learned his ABC’s. He learned how to write his name. He learned all about Spiderman, Batman & Ironman. I am proud of them both and know with each year brings more exciting firsts.

In our careers, we have moments in time where we are faced with having to do things for the first time. We may not be excited about it. We may not feel like what we are getting asked to do is fair. We are almost always uncomfortable about doing something for the first time.

What is funny about these moments in time is that they are defining moments. I remember the first interview I went on out of college. I remember the first time I was asked to manage someone. I remember when I attended my first class in college. I remember the first person I hired. I remember the first person I fired. The list goes on and on.

I have never felt comfortable doing something for the first time. One thing I have learned though is without giving something a try I would have never achieved success. Last week I wrote a post called 5 things I have learned from Failure. This week, I want to talk about the importance of getting out of your shell and giving something a try.
As we grow in our professional careers it is important to always push ourselves to do more than what is expected. We can always do what we know and what we are familiar with doing. If we do this, unfortunately, we will never get ahead in life. I can’t tell you how many times I want to do what is comfortable and what is known.   True success comes from taking risks and understanding that without “firsts” we will not reach our full potential and grow as individuals.

Every day, I continue to learn from my children. I believe they are the gifts that God gives us to make us better people. I know there will be many more firsts that I will have in my life and there will be many that I get to watch my children have.

What are you going to do with your career? Are you going to sit back and watch it pass you by or you going to put yourself out there? Your” first” may open doors that you never thought were imaginable.

@willrecruits

 

 

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