Love What You Do.

I’m talking about where you work and what you do.  I mean, you should always love what you do as a matter of hobbies and life.  However, I’m here to tell you to actually love what you do 40 or more hours per week. 

Today, I’m headed back to work after the birth of my son.  Today will be the longest time I’ve spent away from him.  Previous to this, I have been away approximately 1 hour on an emergency grocery shopping trip.  However, the ability to stick around with my kid was a direct result of the fact that I’m actually working at a place that I absolutely love.

It’s been a decently long path to get here.  I graduated college with a degree in meteorology and worked at TV stations in Omaha and LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  I wanted to be a meteorologist since I was in the 5th grade, but when I finally arrived in my dream positions, they offered less than to be desired.  I made the difficult choice after four years to find something else to do.  I “retired” from tv after five years when I moved to San Antonio.

I moved down here unemployed and began job searching.  (I’ll follow up tomorrow about how I got this job.)  I got the job after a couple months of being down here.  It’s for a company called Rackspace.  It’s consistently ranked as one of the top places to work in the country and I know why.

In the media business, budgets are being cut and positions are being slashed.  Rackspace has continued to hire people throughout this entire recession. 

Here’s what I love about the position though… they’re interested in me growing as an employee and an individual.  They’re interested in finding the ways that I’m motivated and motivating me through those means.  It’s a place where I can go to work wearing shorts and still be dressed better than a vice president.  The pressure is on your work performance and not other means. 

Rackspace is interested in customer service, so in my position I get the extraordinary power to do what is necessary for the customer. 

Anyway, I’ll end this rambling post about my job (I’m sleep deprived, so I apologize for the lack of organization of these next few posts).  However, it’s been an amazing time home with my kid… afforded to me by a great company that I love what I do.  These next few days will be difficult, but at least I’m not going to a job that I hate.  Instead, I’m going to one I love.

2 comments:

Unfortunately, I have to see the positives in my job. Flexible hours. I'm going to be working from home.

I process claims. I'm only here really for the longevity and the insurance. I'd much rather be doing things creative. I went back to school last year for a semester for graphic design. I've also been wanting to get back into the Real Estate field.

But being self employed doesn't carry insurance. It's a matter of waiting for my wife to stop having babies.. :)

My wife's cousin works for Rackspace. I'm not sure how big the company is or if there's multiple offices in SA, but maybe you know her. Angela G.

Sorry you had to go back to work. It'll be tough, but expect to be tagged in for baby once you get there, no matter how long your day was away from home.

March 29, 2010 at 4:26 AM  

I wrote a post a long while back titled the exact same thing. It was inspired by my cousin doing the unpopular thing just to be happy. Good for you.

March 29, 2010 at 1:27 PM