Your project is a vehicle
Photo by Joshua Eckstein on Unsplash
I hear the word “career” being said less and less these days. And that's ok. It’s becoming a word that belongs to a previous generation, a time when you started at the bottom of an imaginary ladder and worked your way up, across, sometimes down, but always with the intention of upwards momentum.
The advent of the Internet, the idea of learning being possible beyond the 4 walls of a university system, the stories of the bootstrapping/freelancing/startup pioneers who have gone before, have encouraged more and more people to join their ranks, to take the power of value creation into their own hands and seek something new, something better.
I have been on this path since I left college, almost 20 years ago. I trained as a computer scientist/software engineer/general tech nerd but that was only the beginning. From creating huge live events to coaching some of the most cutting-edge online education Workshops, I have been privileged to be a part of myriad industries, being able to bring my bottomless curiosity and desire to serve, to some really amazing projects.
That's what I do. I work on Projects. And it’s through Projects that I learn new skills and develop relationships.
It can be scary at times. Where is the next “gig” coming from? How can I plan for the future when, looking at my past, things never work out as I expected them to (in a good way)? How can I up-skill when things are changing so fast? (actually, that last one applies everywhere now…). Yet they all fade once you understand and accept what you know, understand, and accept that you can learn as needed (“just-in-time learning”) and understand and accept that what you don’t know can’t help you. The right attitude is probably the greatest asset you can bring to Project work. That, and shipping regularly :)
A Project can last 1 week or 10 years. It can stretch across time and involve a team that grows and shrinks according to needs. My next Project will likely last at least 5 years, and being able to package it up and ship that Project, knowing that because of it, more exciting Projects will come my way, is super exciting to me.
Your Project is a vehicle. It will lead somewhere, guaranteed, and you get to have a say in where that is, by making the right choices, by sometimes committing to taking the hard part and by always being curious about how you might best serve those you work with.