Effective today, I’ve just received my first ever promotion at work. It sounds like something that probably should have happened at least a few times in my career, given the fact that I’ve been working as a graphic designer for nearly two decades, but seriously, this is the first time that I’ve ever received a promotion.
Typically in the past, if I ever wanted to pursue more money or actually advance my career out of complacency, the onus has really been on me to usually leave a place and seek out employment somewhere else, where I’d make more money and/or get a better title along the way. I’ve never really taken titles seriously nor have I ever really feared about starting at the ground level, so despite my long career, I’ve bounced around a good bit, needless to say.
But considering that I like my job, the company I work for and (generally) the team I’m on, when an opportunity arose for me to advance internally, I thought about it for a minute and had one of those brief moments of soul-searching and realization that this was the perfect opportunity to actually-really-truly take my career seriously in a long-term and sustainable manner. It took a little bit of time going through the interviewing and selection process, but I was pretty stoked when it turned out that I was the guy chosen to advance up the ladder.
So today marks the first day of work; in a new role. It’s a new experience for me as instead of an office full of new faces, it’s an office full of familiar faces, except that I’m under a different title, new role, and actually have reports that I’ll eventually be fully responsible for. I know there are a lot more meetings and emails and other Office Space-y things that go along with a corporate gig, but I’m also making more money, have some better benefits, and at a point in my life where I realize that I’m not getting any younger and should probably start taking the future seriously, I feel like I’ve taken a positive step in the right direction.
Needless to say, my writing habits have been really sporadic and inconsistent over the last few months, not that anyone can see offline-brogging in the first place, but that’s entirely been on account of the fact that I’ve been working my ass off in order to justify my claim to the promotion that I got to those who would be making the decision. And as much as I treasure my writing time, it was clearly the right call to bust my ass and be proactive and inclusive to all challenges and tasks in order to look good at work.
Who really knows how this is going to affect my personal life, as there’s definitely an expectation that this is going to noticeably tweak the ‘ol work/life balance. But when the day is over, I feel that I made the right call, and I’m ready to accept all of the challenges and adjustments that my promotion is going to be putting in front of me, and who knows if this first promotion is going to ignite a taste for more advancement in the even further future?
Either way, I savor my triumph today, and am genuinely excited for what the future holds for me professionally, and hope that it also affects things positively, personally as well.
