Month: March 2021

by Kevin

This week’s guest post comes from Dakota Enriquez. I have had the opportunity to know Dakota for about four years. Dakota graduated with a finance degree but felt his true calling was outside of finance. Making transitions in your professional life can be intimidating, but starting a brand new career outside of your degree is downright scary. His perseverance, determination , and ambition are truly inspiring. Dakota never stopped searching for his passion and landed a career that is most satisfying to him...

by Dakota

I was a fresh graduate right out of college when I realized in the “real world” life isn’t handed to you on a silver platter. I struggled for months just trying to land a job. I had decent work experience. I worked in admissions - an office workplace, a youth internship at a decent size youth group - leadership and teaching, and on top of it all I had a degree, right? What more do they want? Well I also learned another valuable lesson; one that supersedes the first. I learned that determination mixed with hard work and knowing your target, you can just about achieve anything in due time.

At long last with months of countless applications and rejections, I landed my first career job in banking. Man it felt great! I couldn't wait to get started. I was going to be a banker and do great things. Plus make tons of money! Well, I probably made it about one year til I realized this is not the career for me. Some people love to sell and are really good at it. But not me. I needed something more. Something that was going to feed my desire to help others. Something where I could really give it my all because my heart was into it. But what?

Firefighting. Who didn’t dress up as a firefighter for Halloween as a kid? I remember back when I lived in CA, the local Fire Department was doing something with the news at a grocery parking lot. Who knows what and who cares. There was nothing that could stop my 7 year old self from grabbing my mother’s hand and dragging her to go check it out. My memory of that day is a little fuzzy but what I do remember is how cool it was to meet a real live firefighter in person. I was basically talking to Batman himself. I remembered they were showing off the ladder truck and all the tools and gadgets on it. I was living my best life that day.

Fast forward, it was my junior year of high school when I had my next encounter with the Fire Department. My family and I now lived in Washington State, in a suburb of Seattle. My mother suggested that I should do a ride along at the local fire station. To see if this is something worth pursuing after graduating. Now, I’m not going to sugar coat it. This was not a good experience. Practical, maybe, but not what an aspiring fire fighting kiddo like me was expecting. They set me up on the ambulance and said something like if you want to be a firefighter you’ll have to learn the EMS side of things. I made a bunch of anticlimactic calls and didn’t even get to set foot in the fire truck. I went home disappointed and complained to my mom. She didn’t take their side or my own. She was just proud I stuck my neck out there and gave it a try. 

Well like I said in the beginning I went off to college, putting a pause on the firefighting dream. But I didn’t give up. Freshman year, I was introduced to a local firefighter in the OKC area. While talking to him my passion was reignited. I’ll never forget his words of wisdom. Words that would pathe my future. He said,”You’re doing it right kid. Get your degree, fall in love and settle down somewhere. Then at that point start looking into firefighting.” So that’s what I did. I graduated with a finance degree, I married my beautiful wife Kelcy, and we decided to stay put in good ole Oklahoma. 

Yeah ok. Maybe you noticed I didn’t exactly go right into firefighting right after graduating. I guess I want to see if I could put my finance degree to work. I’m glad I tried because now I know that it wasn’t for me. 

After that first year of realizing I wanted something more. I went back to my original passion. The work hero’s did, firefighting. My wife knew the wife of a fireman and I reached out to meet him. We ended up going on a double date and had fun and also talked about firefighting. Again I could feel the passion inside me getting more excited as we discussed what my next steps were. I was both feet all in! The timing was right. It felt right. This was going to happen.

 I signed up for night classes to get my EMT certification. After that I continued to take more fire fighting classes like my paramedic certification for two reasons: One, to keep myself in the fire network loop and two, to improve my resume over the next guy. I was applying everywhere in the cities near me. It was a familiar dance that I was better ready for this go around. Keep in mind, I was still working my day job at the bank.  

Finally OKC was hiring again. I threw my name into the hat and prayed for the best. Their hiring process was no joke. It consisted of over 2,000 applicants fighting for only 50 spots. This process took about 12 months and had various stages such as a written test, physical test, panel interview, polygraph and lastly a chief’s interview. It was an emotional rollercoaster, with the further you go the higher the fall. My anxiety was through the roof. So thank the Lord I got the job! 

There you go! A chapter ripped out of my life. I can say with confidence that the grass is definitely greener on the other side but there’s still more challenges to overcome. I’m still learning and hopefully growing. I hope you can take my testimony and learn a thing or two. 

Teachable moments:

• Network like your dream career depends on it. 
• Find a goal worth pursuing and don’t let up until you achieve it. 
• Determination and hard work will almost always get the job done… over time. 
• Don’t be afraid to fail if it means discovering your passions in life. 

by Kevin

Achieving success is lonely when you aren’t involving and giving to other people. The best way to involve other people is to serve other people. There are two ways to serve others--giving your time and giving your money. Those are two things we like to hold on to too tightly, but holding on doesn’t allow others in and leaves you missing out. 

I have found that the most meaningful and fulfilling activities, relationships, and purpose have come through my involvement in the community. If you aren’t actively engaging in your community, you are missing out on your potential! We need a reason for getting up in the morning, and there is no better reason than serving your community.

There are many ways you can serve your community. If you are part of a religious organization that gathers in a fellowship setting, that is the easiest and most obvious way to get involved. A common mission statement among many religious organizations is to build relationships and serve the surrounding community. If you feel good about the leadership of your organization, why not get involved? However, there are many other ways to get involved with the people who surround you. United Way is one of my favorite organizations. Perhaps I can only speak locally from OKC, but it is a well-managed and fruitful organization worth your time and money. Other organizations that I’ve seen young professionals engage with are as follows: Chamber of Commerce, Young Professionals Network, their Alma mater (always good connections to be made there...don’t forget about it), Big Brother Big Sisters, Coaching, mentoring, Humane Society, etc). There are so many organizations that need your assistance!

You don’t need to have accomplished all of your goals before you begin to serve your community...get involved today! Perhaps you don’t have the time yet, so start with your money. As I have heard before, your heart goes where your money goes, so start investing in your community!

by Adam

I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with a couple different non-profits over the early stage of my career.  If you’re a high achiever, you’re probably thinking: “How in the world am I supposed to make time for that?  I’m barely scraping by as it is!”

But, on the “making time” front, I’ll offer you an analogy that holds true for me (and may for you too!).  Community involvement is a lot like going to the gym.  It’s easy to tell yourself you’re “too busy” or you’ll tackle it “another time.”  It’s also easy to rationalize that, missing a couple opportunities to engage in the activity won’t be the worst thing in the world.  You have your whole life ahead of you!  Plenty of time.

Fair enough!  There are some periods of my life that have been genuinely busier than others, where putting one more thing on my plate just wasn’t an option.  But, at the same time, it’s easy to keep talking yourself into that mindset, look back later, and realize its a part of your life that has been severely neglected.

On the flip side: as Kevin said, there are huge benefits!  But they’re more than surface level deep.  Just like you can’t become a world-class athlete by throwing some weights around in the gym in the first week in January every year, you can’t really accrue the benefits of community involvement by treating it like a “check the box” activity.  At some point, you just have to dive in!

On the monetary side, the same rules apply.  It can be hard to, on a one time basis, mentally sacrifice something you want (a vacation, a fancy new thing, etc.) for charitable giving.  So, plan ahead!  Make giving a regular part of your household budget. Don’t set yourself up to make each decision to give a somber, sacrificial, excruciating battle of will power!

So, what are you waiting for?  Get involved!

by Adam

This is our 9th post in our series on The Office.  We’ve covered a lot of ground.  Specifically, we’ve talked about both operating within your Strength Zone.

In Episode 9, Season 9 (“Dwight Christmas"), we see one quality inside Jim’s Strength Zone intersect with another topic in an important way.

But before we get to the dialogue, let me briefly step up onto my soapbox:

Let’s talk more about reputation.  Specifically, about your professional reputation.  We touched on the edge of this concept in a previous post, but it’s time to elaborate a bit more.

To tee this up for us, let’s revisit two statements from Kevin:

“When I was beginning my career in public accounting, I wanted to find a path to launch my career. I could quickly see that just trying to be the best auditor was not going to be my best strategy to be unique--or stand out. There were too many people that were more technical, willing to work more hours, and didn’t mind traveling. However, I took some time to focus on my own strengths at that time.”

“Warren Buffett once said that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. Not that you need a dimwit like me to support an opinion from the great Mr. Buffett, but he is so right...once again!”

-Kevin from our post "Warning: You’ve Got a Reputation"

Therein lie two very important ideas.  

First, what constitutes a “good” reputation will be unique to you.  Said differently, if you ask someone “what is this guy's reputation” and they say “good,” you will understandably find that answer wanting.  In some sense, your reputation represents the degree to which your actions, over time, have provided others with evidence of, and confidence in, your ability to operate within your Strength Zone.

Second, it is easier to lose a reputation than to build it.  The cornerstone of a good reputation is consistency.  Your ability to operate within your Strength Zone is much less valuable if you can’t be relied upon to do so consistently.

And, that’s where we find Jim.  Darryl, Dwight, and in some sense, Pam, spend the episode wondering how fully Jim will live up to the “people first” reputation he has built.

[Jim speaks to the Documentary Crew]

Jim: “I am leaving early today for Philly, because tomorrow is the first day of my new job.  So I figured I’d get in at 5, check into the hotel about 6, so I can get a real good night of restless sleep and nervous puking”

[later, in the breakroom]

Darryl: "Philly, exciting stuff man, So, you sure you remember everything for your trip?"

Jim: "Yeah, I think so"

Daryl: "Think that through for a sec"

[Camera cuts to Darryl alone, speaking to the camera crew]

Darryl: “Jim’s going to Philly tomorrow, he said he was going to take me with him, but that was two months ago, and I haven’t heard anything since.  I mean, he said that, right? "

[Camera cuts back to Jim and Darryl’s conversation]

“What else could you possibly be forgetting?  Things?  People?"

[Toby interjects and changes the subject]

Darryl is obviously upset, and unsatisfied by Jim’s lack of communication since he originally floated the idea of a job to Darryl.  This is all happening in the midst of the annual Christmas party, where they’re serving (and Darryl subsequently drinks plenty of) alcoholic punch.  An inebriated Darryl later shares his frustrations with the camera crew.

Darryl: “Jim, that guy, pfft.  You gotta stick to your word!  Like when you say something to a buddy, a real buddy, what are you gonna do… LIE?  TO YOUR BUDDY?!  That’s AWFUL.”

So, we’re left with the impression that Darryl is definitely disappointed with Jim.  Jim’s reputation has suffered in his eyes.  

Jim: “Oh you know what, I gotta go”

Pam: “Oh really, already?” 

Jim: “I’m sorry”

Dwight: “Hey, where are you going?”  

Jim: “I have to go to Philly, but, this was amazing”

Dwight: “But you work tomorrow”

Jim: “Yeah, I know, I just like to settle in, get a good night’s sleep”

Dwight: “But we were going to break the pig rib”

Jim: “Awwww”

Dwight: “Remember?”

Jim: “That’s right”

Dwight: “No matter, Belsnickel cares not”

To understand why Dwight is dressed up like an imaginary Christmas character named Belsnickel, and why he subsequently beats Jim with a stick, I recommend you watch the full episode.  But, to sum it all up: Dwight is very disappointed Jim is leaving the party early. And, while Pam doesn’t assault Jim with a makeshift weapon, we can tell she is upset too:

Pam: “Well, this is it” [teary expression]

Jim: “I’m probably never going to see you again”

Pam: “Shut up, I’m trying to be serious”

Jim: “Hah, ok”

Pam: “I can’t believe this is actually happening”

Jim: “Listen, thank you so much, for putting that all together, that was the perfect last Christmas party”

[Pam looks sad, if not a bit disappointed]

Jim: “Alright, wish me luck?”

{Jim and Pam hug]

Pam: “Good luck, you’re going to be great”

Jim:“I’ll call you when I get in?”

Pam:“OK”

Jim: “Alright”

Pam:“Love you”

Jim: “Love you”

As Pam rides the elevator back up to The Office, she crosses paths with Dwight as he storms out, going home to change out of his Belsnickel costume.

Pam: “What’s going on”

Dwight: “Party’s over. You quit on Christmas, Christmas quits on you”

Later, after Dwight has returned to the office, he elaborates on his frustrations

Dwight: “Jim couldn’t even stay until the end of the party”

Pam: “But that didn’t have anything to do with you”

Dwight: “I don’t care. Guess how much I care on a scale of one to ten”

Pam: “Zero”

Dwight: [expletive]

As if Jim’s apparent popularity hadn’t fallen far enough, the camera cuts back to a one-on-one with Darryl, who catches us up to where he’s at with the whole “‘real buddy” rant he started earlier.

Darryl: “I’m going to tell Jim to go [expletive]”

Wow!

So here we are.  Jim is deeply unpopular, and In this one post I have censored the first and second bad-word in the history of this blog.  There’s more to the story, but I think we’ve gotten enough raw emotion out on the table for one day’s reading.  Next week, we’ll tackle the aftermath, and the implications it has for the Mentoring Program.