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Submitted by naraa on
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I just want to share that the August 25th Newsletter put tears in my eyes.  Matt, thank you so much for sharing your story so that we can all learn.

I´ve been in a somewhat similar situation myself, on both sides: the worker who is so driven at work that burns out, and the wife whose husband is so driven and doesn´t get the attention needed.

I am now at the point of taking a detour in my carrer and reading that Matt, you did that by taking a job as a train driver for a while and after that you went back to managing a technical team was inspiring and reasurring that carreer paths are indeed nonlinear, as Wendii has also written here a while ago.

Thanks!

Nara

Jose_Ramon's picture

I agree with you Nara; it is a great story and much can be learned. 

Thanks Matt for sharing. Thanks to Manager Tools for posting it. And thank you Nara for creating the post.

Wish you Nara, luck and success in your  detour.  And Matt sure you will be doing great.

 

Disc 1-1-7-7

duplicate_account_MarkAus's picture

Agree with the above.  We're all richer for having Matt and MT share that story.

mattpalmer's picture

After the Sydney EMC, I felt like I *had* to share my story with Mark and Dani, to let them know the effect they'd had on me.  I was blown away when Dani asked me if she could share my story with everyone, but after a bit of soul-searching, I hoped it might help other people, as Mark and Dani helped me.

Nara, career paths are indeed non-linear.  We grow up being taught that when we're an adult, we'll have "a career", and as we complete our education we will choose a conveyer belt to step onto and ride for the rest of our lives.  Moving into adulthood, we see that isn't the case, because many people do change careers.  But that early conditioning causes a lot of unnecessary stress and fear.  The people who chose a path that isn't for them but stick to it "because that's how it's done", feel trapped and dissatisfied.  Those of us who do take the leap feel that we're somehow cheating, doing the wrong thing, making a mistake.  It's not a healthy outlook on things.  The more people realise that you're not your career, the healthier we'll all be.

carguin's picture

I'll admit I teared up too, and am even more excited to go to the upcoming EMC/ECC conference in Boston. This might be setting the bar a little high... I expect some miracles!

The laptop naming convention had my wife in stitches for the rest of the afternoon.

Thank you

--

Chris Arguin

GlennR's picture

Matt's email is a great example of user-generated content. If your responsibilities include social media, and you deal with co-workers who just don't get it (and you need their support) sharing this might help them understand. One of the things I do in my organization is to encourage more stories from our customers. That means i have to sell co-workers on the effectiveness of creating smooth and simple processes to encourage people to share their stories, then have our social media community managers use them.

Great story, Matt!

naraa's picture
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 Matt, thank you, i couldn't have express my own thoughts better than the way you wrote it.  That is exactly how i feel, i am getting off from the conveyor belt, i am going to walk my own way and i feel like i am cheating. I feel like I've been programed to persevere, but my heart tells me otherwise.  

Thanks for the help. José, thanks for the best wishes!

Nara

Mark's picture
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All-

I started the Sydney conference by hearing Matt tell me about getting excited about being a manager because he listened, and then he shared the family story with us at the end.  Talk about bookends!

I wish you all could meet him - class guy.  

Stories like this are why we do this!  On days like today, it's more than a privilege to do this, it's a dream come true.

Cheers all,

Mark