Permission, who needs it?
Responsibility, I wanted it from a young age, but I never got it.
Even in my first job, I wanted to do more than just the basics, but these opportunities weren’t provided, no matter how much I proved myself. I get it - you need to prove your reliability and ability to others in order to gain trust, this takes time. After building up all of this rapport, every time you start a new job, you are back at 0 and have to build this up again.
What I have identified in almost all of my jobs is that there are unspoken rules to the processes of how to move up the ranks - do the job you are asked, in 10-15years when someone dies or moves on, you can apply for a more senior position and you wont get it because they want to bring in fresh blood and, technically, you haven’t done much to develop yourself because you have been too focussed on actually doing a good job of your job. I can see things changing, but this is still happening. After seeing this, I head to learn how to do what I wanted anyway, regardless of what others thought. I didn’t want to ask for permission, because 9 times out of 10 a company or institution doesn’t want innovation. Besides, most times you are made to feel that you can’t even ask for permission in the first place.
So, do what your job or task asks of you, but have your covert operations in place. Channel your inner scientist and experiment, test, evaluate the results and make changes. If you are doing things to improve where you work or how things are done, don’t ask for permission - let other people see the results and have them come to you. Some people will get it, some wont, but if you are someone who questions the world and desires to fix problems, you are exactly the right person to start doing something with your time and energy.
If you don’t try, who will? If you can’t receive permission to make a move for another 10yrs, how many people are you doing a disservice to in that time by not acting?
Are you going to give yourself the permission you need to become the person you want to? Or are you going to ask someone else for it? Choose wisely.
