You’re Not Alone: You’re Everyone Around You

Starting a new job? You must be nervous, right? It would take months to find your footing. And there are expectations, and so many responsibilities. It will be alright, of course, but still, it’s not easy. It’s challenging in a good way, but also stressful. You don’t really sleep as well as you used to, there’s a lot of excitement and new things to figure out. You have something to lose, and you can’t afford to fail. For a moment you might even think: “why did I have to do this?”

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I have a question: how many of you are starting this new job? Sounds like a typo, but let me ask this differently: are you really starting your new job by yourself? You’re never truly alone: what about that teacher, manager, or mentor that opened your mind years ago – aren't they coming too in spirit? And what about that one course you took, or one book you read that is engraved in your mind?

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Your goal should be to take all these people and inspirations and assemble a personal “board of directors”: advisors from varied fields offering counsel, whether mentally, legally, or financially. Consult them weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly for perspective and reassurance. Together you’re about to start this new job. Like Thomas Friedman famously said, “the world is flat”. We’re all living in a flat and connected world, but we take advantage of so little of it, it’s enraging.

Imagine your first day at work, you’re walking in and dozens of people that came with you are walking behind you. Only you can see them, but they’re there. You’re never truly alone.

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So how many will you be when you start your next new job?

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