100 | Good at Something I Hate

My mom will cringe when she reads that title and we try to correct our kids when they use that word, but I’m struggling to find a synonym right now.

Honestly, I strongly disliked my first professional role after college.

I enjoyed some of the people and am still grateful for those relationships. I learned valuable skills that I still use every day. I even feel pride when I tell people about my first job because of its prestige in the accounting world.

But working in cramped conference rooms until after midnight, documenting why some innocent A/P clerk kept a less-than-perfect paper trail, and missing out on plenty of evenings with my wife and friends is something that had a shelf life from the day I started.

But here is the irony - for as much as I disliked the role, I was pretty good at it. Not a Hall of Famer, but I certainly would’ve made the playoffs every year.

Pretty quickly the nagging question was, “If I’m good at this and I hate it, how good could I be doing something I love?”.

Of course, the opportunities for promotion were substantial. The income potential was seemingly infinite. The promises of paid sabbaticals were sexy on the surface. But I never envisioned myself climbing the ladder if I was grumbling and crying all the way to the top.

I worked my last day in that role in September 2013 - I don’t think it was the 13th but it would be cool if it was. I can still remember sitting across from the partner of our group in my last week as he said, “I think you’re making a big mistake.”

Depending on your definition of “mistake”, the jury may still be out on that one.

But today it is September 13, 2023 and this is Post 100. On January 1 of this year, I set a goal of 100 posts in 12 months.

I’m not claiming they are all good, but completing a 12-month goal in less than 9 months feels like something that happens when you love what you’re doing.

There’s still a long way to go, but that long runway would have made me throw up in September 2013, and now it gets me excited.

It feels like we’re starting to answer that nagging question instead of just wondering about it.