Articles

Moving On
by Dr. Lynne Curry

Question:
Am I the only one who can’t quite get back to work after the September 11^th events? I can’t seem to focus on what I’m doing and I’m making dozens of mistakes. I feel like quitting my job and doing something more meaningful but I don’t know what. I called the American Red Cross but they only have volunteer openings. My job just seems so unimportant that it’s hard to take it seriously any more.

Answer:
Many employees travel to work each day wondering when and how hard the other shoe may drop. Some feel their nerves tingle when they hear a plane flying low overhead or hear the sound of distant sirens. Many question the meaning of what they do at work when the crisis now facing our country makes their job tasks feel inconsequential.

On September 11^th, our world shifted irrevocably. What happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania gut-kicked each of us. Some of us relentlessly follow the latest news developments. Others of us shut our eyes and ears and say, "I don’t want to keep hearing about this." All of us, however, need to regain our footing in a world that shifted.

We regain our balance when we "get" what happened and decide how to change to adjust to the new reality. When Starbucks employees charged rescue workers for water to help World Trade Center victims, they clearly didn’t "get it". What better signal could the rest of us receive for how we as a country have stopped feeling and seeing? How many of us still live in partial denial that we are at war and that "concerned with me, to heck with thee" won’t cut it any more?

"Getting it" includes realizing you may be wasting your time in a job that doesn’t give you a sense of purpose. If this becomes your conclusion, take a skills inventory and look around you. What do you like to do, what can you do and what skills do you need to develop to get a job you’d find meaningful? If you feel you can do more with the skills you’ve already developed, perhaps you need to move on to a job with more impact or to turn your wake-up call into an opportunity by letting your manager know you’d like to do more. In short, come to terms in your work life with what President Bush meant when he said, "we’ll not be defined by our time but we’ll define it."

Now is about making the best choices we can – right from our place in the battle, our work sites and homes. You can be Walter Mitty and fantasize about how you’d be were you on the front lines or you can step up to the plate right from the spot in which you now serve.

Terrorists take a country apart by creating fear and a sense of powerlessness and disillusionment. Terrorists win when we react in fear and lose our resolve and commitment. We fight back with our ability to face reality and move forward. Do you need to move on to a new job or instead change how you act in the job you now hold?