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by Claire

I have a knack for seeing life as a series of “meant to be” moments.   Here’s one that just happened that I must share.

I am currently in Houston on business.  As I shared before I am up for a promotion and was told about 2 weeks ago that the position was not going to be filled until summer.  As I was told this news, I asked for clarification on that decision in a sort of “charades without clues” manner.  I asked my boss several questions as he explained that they needed to see more “leadership” displayed by their final choice.  That puzzled me for several reasons so I pushed more with my boss asking him for specifics on what exactly needs to be seen.  While he wasn’t willing to share specifics in the way I wanted to hear them, he was able to offer some form of “answers” to my very specific questions.   My understanding of his responses were that the final choice needs to be more connected to the people we support in other parts of the state.  I asked if an expense report would be approved for travel to other parts of the state even if not directly tied to a specific matter.  He indicated that they would and that getting out and about would be a good thing.  Much of what we do for these groups of people happens remotely and we often never meet the people face-to-face.  I gathered through this question and answer session that the concern re: “leadership skills” had more to do with connecting with these people in other offices.  That may be completely wrong but it is what I took away from the chat.  Thankfully, relationship building comes easily to me and I set out to meet as many people as possible by calling/emailing/instant messaging to set up one-on-one chats to find out how I and, more importantly, my office could better help them in meeting their goals.  That’s why I’m in Houston and why I’ll be in Dallas next week.

Here’s the lesson:  I have no idea if this is what will get me this promotion.  I am surprisingly okay with that reality.  While I am a fierce competitor, I also understand that I may not be the right fit for this job at this time.  What I do completely “get” is that what I am doing is a GOOD thing no matter the outcome.  I am growing professionally and getting to know other parts of our business from a safe place.  I am watching and learning and already see the benefit to the experience.  For most of my life I’ve only done things that I know I will succeed at so this is sort of new territory and I’m enthusiastic about the calm I feel about it all. 

After a long day of what I call “meet and greet” activities (some people in my life asked if I’d be shaking hands and kissing babies) I’m back in the hotel now and hopped online to take care of a few things.  That’s when I remembered that a reader sent an email referring me to a blog she follows.  It is http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/ and I just went and took a look it and loved what I found.  The entry today is a guest post but it is so exactly what I needed to see after this long day!  Basically, it is a reminder that we all have things to learn and unlearn in this life.  The writer talks about how our childhood experience with money certainly impacts what we do as adults but she makes the point that while we most often think in the obvious way of “frugal parents raise frugal kids” or “spenders raise spenders” there’s another valid point to be made when we look at our view on finances.  Basically, just b/c you were raised in a frugal household making do with what you had…be careful not to let this set you up for a belief that you can’t EARN more.  Don’t let this prevent you from pursuing that promotion or asking for a raise is the message in the post.

This made me very thankful for my parents.  While they may not have raised a frugal child–although they did live very frugally–I’m sure my financial woes started well after I left their household–they DID raise a child who (as evidenced today) is not afraid to take risks even when they are out of my comfort zone.  That’s such a great realization for me!  I may not get the job but I will know that I gave it my all–and that’s a great feeling to have as I call it a night! 

Another long post!  🙂  Will you all be shocked to know that I timed myself tonight and I just wrote this in 8 minutes?  That’s why you see so many posts from me–when it starts to flow, there it is and I intentionally don’t read and reread and read again.  It is what it is…free flowing, stream of consciousness…all me.   And yes, I talk faster than I type…that should sufficiently terrify some of you!