Everything Is Negotiable: The 5 Tactics to Get What You Want in Life, Love, and Work by Meg Myers Morgan

Author:Meg Myers Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: self help
Publisher: Seal Press
Published: 2018-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

OWN YOUR PATCH OF SOIL

My first job out of college was great, and in retrospect, I learned more than I realized while I was there. I worked in the marketing department for a well-known nonprofit agency that raised more than $25 million annually. My job there was to plan and execute five massive events every year: a 5K run (with thousands of runners), a volleyball tournament (with hundreds of players), a fancy gala (with hundreds of dinner guests), a citywide volunteer day (with thousands of volunteers), and a celebration of accomplishing our fundraising goal (with hundreds of donors). It was a lot of responsibility for a twenty-two-year-old, but I never once stopped to acknowledge that. In fact, I was already aiming for a promotion within the first year. This is where competition and comparison (see Tactic One, and stop it!) rears its ugly head. I believed I was doing far more work—and better work!—than my peers.

During the winter holidays of my first year on the job, the executive director came by my cubicle and told me she was putting me in charge of decorating the entire office. This meant adorning the Christmas tree, hanging garland and twinkly lights, and spraying fake snow in the corners of the office windows. Rest assured, this demand had little, if anything, to do with my gender (most of the staff were female) and everything to do with my age and rank. I can’t tell you how pouty I was about this. Didn’t she know who I was? I planned events for thousands, dammit! I was the founder and president of the environmental club in college! I read Vonnegut!

Begrudgingly, I accepted the box of decorations and got to work. When I was halfway through hanging the ornaments on the tree, the executive director came out of her office and showed me a better way to do it. This infuriated me. I’m a college graduate! My degree is not in ornamentation! I don’t care to be taught this drivel! After seeing her pick on me a few more times about my garland technique, several of my coworkers came out of their offices to help. One put on holiday music loudly in the lobby, and we wound up breaking out eggnog, having a dance party, and enjoying a slow day that chilly November. Many good lessons came out of that tree-decorating. I learned a great deal about working with a team and relying on my peers for guidance and support. I learned not to ever take any kind of fun at work for granted, no matter how menial the task might seem. And, perhaps best of all, I learned how to decorate the crap out of a tree. I had been such a little shit about it in the moment. I thought I was above it, but I wasn’t, and I never will be.

In my current job, I’m able to see that those things we think we are above are actually some of the most important work we do.

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