Slowing down and enjoying the ride

When I was first started my career at PwC, I was that stereotypical hungry and young employee who was gunning for promotions and career advancement as fast as possible. I pushed to get promoted to Senior Associate early in 1.5 years where the standard time was 2 or 3 years. And then I tried to gun for promotion to Manager again at the 4 year mark which was about 2 years earlier than average.

I worked hard and lots of hours. I don’t regret it as the more I gave into my job, the more I got out of it. I learned quickly and got the attention of a lot of senior leaders. I was okay with it. I was young and energetic, ready to learn and quickly move up the corporate ladder.

When I was up for early promotion to Manager, I felt that I had deserved it and worked harder and was more productive than other Managers. I still believe that is true to this day. Yet I didn’t get the promotion. The feedback that I got was that I was still a bit immature but largely that they didn’t want to set a precedent that people can get promoted at 4 years. I was devastated and angry.

When I had a chat with my partner about this, one of the things that he said to comfort me was that I needed to slow down a bit and enjoy the ride more. He emphasized that life and success wasn’t all about getting promoted as fast as possible. While acknowledging that he appreciated my effort, he also said that I was missing out on a lot and needed to refocus more on learning and just having fun with life.

He was right. I was so focused on getting promoted and grinding out work as fast as possible. And I wasn’t enjoying it during some of the best years of my prime. I think it’s perfectly okay to be career focused, but nowadays, I also make sure that I’m enjoying the ride as well.