The best way to start this section is to just start typing…I have so many thoughts running through my mind and so much fear trying to put road blocks up at every turn that it’s driving me crazy. I just don’t know where I belong in this world. If you read my blog from the beginning, you know that I left my husband, my home, my job and everything I had known for the last 15 years because he wanted someone else. My life has changed drastically over the last 5 years and nothing is as it seemed. Now I am trying to piece my life together using new puzzle pieces and the part of the puzzle that contains my work life is eluding me.
My most valuable resources for information are my two sons and their wives. My oldest son Terrance is a trainer for Samsung. He literally worked his way up the ladder and he did it by absorbing every bit of knowledge he could about cellular phones back when they first came out. He would print everything he could find on the subject until he had more notebooks on this information than he did on all of his school materials combined! He didn’t know the particular turns he would make on this path but he took them as they came along and he is now in a good place with more opportunities still in front of him.
My son Tyler also worked his way up by starting at the bottom. He started working for a lighting company when he was 18 as a warehouse employee. This company stuck with him during his learning years because they saw his potential. He was promoted to warehouse manager and even when the company hit hard times and had to cut his pay, he stuck with them. They bounced back and he was right there with them. Today he is a store manager for this company and is their go-to guy for bringing stores to an A-rating. Next step is the regional managers position, I am sure!
So here is my dilemma and please send me your thoughts, advice and experiences on this matter. I would love to see the input from my readers.
Is my personality holding me back? I am a very passive person. People very quickly see me as malleable and not one to stand my ground right away. When I was a young mother, this was not the case in my personal life but in the workforce I have always been the subordinate. It isn’t that I don’t have leadership skills or potential, I just don’t have the confidence and it shows.
Fear. That is what I have. Second guessing everything from my age and how much time I have left to find my niche , to my ability to perform when things get tough or confrontatin occurs. How does a person with my personality move into the workforce as a leader? What can I do to conquer the fear of confrontation? Of failure? Dealing with employees on their personality level does not come natural to me as it does with some other leaders. I always see myself as an equal or less than others and I get ran over every time. When I think about the bosses I’ve had in the past and what made them seem like successful manages to me, I see the respect and compassion they had for their employees while still coming across as the one in charge. This is why I think I could do it. Reading people and picking up on their needs comes natural to me. I just have to learn how to manage the personalities of employees in a way that helps them be their best while protecting myself from being ran over. A manager doesn’t have to be stern 24/7 to get people to do their jobs but they can’t be a pushover either. It’s a fine line that I want to learn about.
So, I am researching what books to read on leadership, reading blogs and articles on it, I’ve even signed up for classes on Lynda.com to help me learn some of the basics. If I need to take a class at the local college, I can do that too. I have nothing but time on my hands right now so this is the perfect time for me to learn as much as I can.
My son Terrance has let me bounce my interests off of him and he is always there with reminders of what I have accomplished over the years. My son Tyler gives me examples of how he handles confrontation with his employees and is teaching me different strategies to do the same. Both of them and their wives encourage me to pinpoint what it is that I want to do and go from there. But that’s just it; I always come back to what do I want to do that is realistic? I love to write but that won’t pay for health insurance. Sometimes I think that the things I really love to do are just a fantasy in my head. I would love to buy a truck and a camper and go do the “Workamper” thing and make money writing and working odd jobs at the campsites. Again, that might not carry me through the next 10 years to retirement and should probably be a side gig for later.
The cleaning industry is what I have been in since I was 18. Starting out cleaning in a hospital Surgical Unit, patient rooms and offices, moving into the hotel industry for 6 years (my favorite!) and finally, having my own cleaning business in two states for over 20 years now. Million dollar homes in Georgia and Colorado.
Other interests are in the health industry. I am a certified personal trainer but it’s not where my heart is anymore. I have worked as a Private Care Giver part-time for 15 years as well as working in the nursing homes in the Activities Department. These things are close to my heart but not where I want to be at this point of my life.
So what do you think? I need thoughts that are outside of my own head. I need help. I need knowledge. An arrow showing “Look here”! Anything that you think would help would be appreciated. Thank you faithful readers!
Twice Bitten 