I drove home from work yesterday with my windows down, enjoying the new afternoon warmth that comes with daylight savings and listening to one of my favourite John Mayer songs on the radio. Even though I’ve heard the song many times over, I’d never really paid attention to one particular line: ‘Don’t believe me, don’t believe me when I say I’ve got it down.’ I didn’t believe him. It seemed to me that he must have most things in his life pretty much under control—at least in his career life. How else would he have become such a successful musician? But then again, when do we ever really have everything in our lives completely under our control?
It’s easy to look at another’s success and fall into the trap of believing they must have had a fool-proof plan right from the beginning, taken measured steps to get to where they are now and gained all the necessary knowledge, experience and confidence before they landed that amazing job or achieved that fantastic promotion. But, in reality, you might never quite reach that divine place where you have everything in your life held down in its right place. So you shouldn’t wait for it to happen before you taken action.
Those people who have succeeded in their careers are usually the ones who just dived in—without having everything perfect beforehand. Work hard to gain experience and knowledge, but don’t sit out of the career game because you don’t feel 100 per cent ready. After all, even John Mayer hasn’t got it down…and his career isn’t doing so bad.
© Jacqueline Batterham
