What are you born to do?

In my English class we have learned about the word kairos. It refers to timing, the timeliness of when something occurs. For me this week has been a very timely one with relation to what I am learning and thinking about in school and what I have to do at work. Being a new year I have to set goals for what I want to accomplish this year, and what type of learning opportunities I will have. I am at a crossroads of sorts. I have two paths to take, I can focus on leadership attributes and head down the management road, or I can learn more about programs and technical skills I would need to be an individual contributor at a higher level. Both would yield promotion opportunities and I feel I would do well in both areas. But between a career assessment I participated in, watching the video by Tom Kelley about doing what we love, and a lunch meeting with my boss’s boss I feel I am coming to my answer. What was I born to do? I’m not sure yet, but I know what I enjoy doing and I know what I am good at (and luckily people are willing to pay me for it). I am good at analyzing, innovating, and accomplishing. I think I am going to focus in the “individual contributor” role for now. Maybe down the road a leadership responsibility will be included, but through much thinking and hearing/reading wise counsel this is where I’m going.

To close I will share a quote from Elder Wirthlin’s “Little Things Are Important”

“We should try to live every day with absolute faith, for we have learned in life that the Lord keeps his promises and watches over those who trust Him. He has been so good to all of us that we should have a strong belief that He must really love us in spite of our faults.”