The one about football

What can Mark Sanchez teach us about being successful in our rookie year in the workplace? (For those of you who are freshmen, Mark was the USC quarterback and graduated in May. He is the starting quarterback for the NY Jets.)

First, you have to be willing to relocate. For many of you native Californians, the idea of working in a place where the temperature goes below 60 degrees is not tempting. However, if it puts you in the major business center of your field, why wouldn’t you move?

In order to achieve success, you need to be willing to fail. Being the first rookie quarterback of the NY Jets in many years is placing yourself out there among some of the most knowledgeable and critical football fans in the country. If you make a mistake, recover quickly. Visualize the sacked quarterback getting up and calling the next play. It hurts, but you don’t have time to dwell on it, just learn and move on.

Don’t always listen to other’s opinions of your career choice. It’s your decision. Seek advice and counsel from those your respect, but in the end what you choose to do is what you choose to do.

Study and work hard. Just because you have left an academic environment doesn’t mean you don’t have lots to learn. In today’s NY Times sportswriter Greg Bishop describes the process Mark has used to learn the Jet’s playbook. Once you know the strategy of your employer you understand what part you play in the success of an organization.

Ask lots of questions. In the article, Bishop describes Mark reviewing the game plan and filling a notebook with questions for the offensive coordinator. If you don’t ask questions, you don’t learn. If you are discouraged from asking questions, perhaps you need to find another job.

In any new position you are trying to master a set of skills that will help you succeed and be comfortable in your workplace. Take a look at the picture at the beginning of the NY TImes article. Is that one happy rookie? Wouldn’t you love to be that confident and happy in your new job?

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.