I have recently gone through a job hunt. I’ve been invited to interview, I’ve been declined positions I thought I wanted and I accepted a position I am really excited for.
Something that has come up in all of my interviews is some variation of the question, “how do you describe your work ethic?” or, “what motivates you?”
And I know how terribly self-centered this sounds, but the truth is I motivate me, I work hard for myself. I want to do well because I’m a fairly prideful person. Is that a bad thing to admit? I don’t mean that I feel above anyone else, just that I don’t want to feel poorly about myself and that’s an awfully motivating bit of honesty.
I like to be busy, I like to have plans and goals, I like to feel accomplished. I have found it is quite detrimental to my mental state to feel useless. I need to have purpose, in both the large sense of the word and the smallest sense of the word.
In the large sense I need an overall purpose, something I am working toward. Whether that be money-related (paying down debt, saving for something) or project related (fencing project) or business related (booking x number of sessions), I like to have big-picture goals.
But I also need small purposes… feeding everyone first thing in the morning, paying bills by x date, cleaning the house.
I like to think I have gotten better over the years, but I still have a very difficult time relaxing if I know there is something that needs to be done. I need things to be put away before I can consider a task finished. And I need tasks to be finished before I can allow myself to relax. It’s a vicious cycle. And I can see how it could be annoying to those around me.
But at the same time… isn’t it okay to be ambitious? There have to be worst traits out there, right?
I believe ambition is not a dirty word, it’s believing in yourself and your abilities. Imagine this: what would happen if we were all brave enough to believe in our own ability, to be a little more ambitious. I think the world would change.
-Reese Witherspoon
