Goodbye comfort, hello growth
Megan Doherty
Technical Specialist, Security and Compliance
Microsoft Canada
This June will mark my three-year work anniversary at Microsoft Canada. Three years since leaving university and three years since leaping into a field I’m most passionate about. During this time, I’ve come to realize that a career is not just a job title; it’s the journey and how you fully round yourself out.
Three things that have been integral towards defining my career and evolving as a person are discovery, finding comfort in discomfort and living intentionally.
Discovery means being open to new possibilities and opportunities, no matter how different or untraditional. In school, I almost never received the same opportunities as my peers. At the time, I couldn’t see the immediate value of these experiences, and looking back, I am so glad that I stayed open-minded. So often we shut ourselves out to opportunities that we don’t feel align with the "vision" of who we think we are and who we need to be. When truly, we are a result of the experiences we've had.
As I’ve navigated my career, I’ve learned how important it is to get uncomfortable and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. The perception that you need to know everything and feel confident in every situation is deeply flawed. It also greatly stunts your ability to learn, adapt and create community. For me, finding comfort in discomfort means taking on opportunities that make me nervous at times, like recording a technical video for marketing, trying to manage a start up while getting my degree fulltime or even public speaking. People often say that growth happens when you’re uncomfortable and I couldn’t agree more.
“If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. You need to find opportunities that will push you to grow, and that means sometimes facing a learning curve and feeling uncomfortable.”
A key learning is to be intentional in your career and in life. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself, “what am I getting out of this company?”, “what skills am I fostering?”, “am I fully embracing my network and my passions?” or even “am I happy?”. Be honest – the best thing you can do is meet yourself where you are now. You can then identify the areas where you feel unfulfilled and harness that as opportunity to do more of the things that you love whether it’s teaching, mentoring or even content creation. It can be so easy to become unfulfilled in your career if you're not being intentional every day.
For anyone on their career journey, remember to seek the things you love, don’t be afraid to move forward and find comfort in being uncomfortable.
#GrowthAndDevelopment #Engagement #Culture