What You Want Isn't Always What You Need

It's year end and many folks do a self assessment and review how things went in the current year while prepping for their resolutions for the new year.  I tend to self assess regularly anyway but this is a good time to review a lesson I learned in 2010.

The lesson was: What You Want Isn't Always What You Need

This lesson was taught to me in abundance at my job this year.  After being laid off in April of 2009, I returned to the same job in September of 2009.  Despite having worked at the job previously, there were some underlying issues I knew I had to address (won't talk too much about it here).  I wanted to just do my job and be left alone.  I went about addressing my issues in the way I personally thought best.

Alas, my attempts to address the issues did not prove to be successful and I got a major reality check about eight months ago.   I don't know about anyone else, but when someone tells you that you're not doing your job, it's not exactly an easy thing to swallow.  I went through a few weeks of self pity and wondered what I was going to do.   Fortunately, I had help and a self improvement plan was put into place.

Eight months later, as we close 2010, I can say that I definitely did not WANT to go through my situation at work.  However, it was exactly what I needed.  I learned some valuable lessons both personally and professionally.  I won't say I am perfect at my job now but things have improved dramatically.

The same could be said for many things in our lives.  As I blogged about this previously, I think that having my team winning the league championship was the right time.  All my previous times, I was somewhat selfish in wanting to win the championship.  I think I needed a lesson in humility.  This season, I wanted my team to win the championship because I thought we were one of the best "teams" on court.  I learned that being part of a team AND winning is much more enjoyable.

Keep this mind as we go into 2011!