Time is a bad parameter for measuring potential. Draw your focus on what you’re doing each day instead.
It’s weird how the world is obsessed with treating years spent working as a measure of experience. It’s delusionary.
No doubts about it
You’ve probably seen enough people get paychecks that they probably can’t justify earning if they were to show the value they provide.
Many people worked for years or simply passed time until they surrendered to complacency. Or they were too focused on finding shortcuts to reach their goals instead of improving their craft.
Could be many reasons.
But the question here is, how valid is it to measure experience in terms of time?
The problem
Time spent and experience gained are not synonymous.
“I spent 8 hours at the office,” and “I made two decks and did one briefing,” are two different ways of measuring productivity. They diverge in different directions.
One has made-up importance – which looks like a sign of excessive dedication. Whereas the latter one is real, decent work that often goes unnoticed.
Though, what ultimately really adds-up actual experience is the stuff that requires you to get your hands dirty and show up. And the coffee machine gossip sessions, they don’t help.
The experience increases anyway
Every time the clock ticks, or every time the sun revolves once around the earth, your experience credential goes up.
But does it?
Even if you spent most of your days pretending to be busy, you’d still get to flaunt your experience. There’s no denying that.
But has that time made you a better person?
You’ve seen folks who play solitaire at work – and they do get paid.
And when they’ve spent a couple of years without progressing significantly, they must be faced with the regret of how the killing of time didn’t pay-off.
It’s not worth it.
The real experience comes from work, not years
- Counting your efforts, your skills, and milestones achieved gives greater outcomes than filling timesheets
- What can be learned in two years can also be executed in six months or a shorter period with intense work
- Energy spent working in the right direction provides more outcomes than drifting directionlessly
Those are simple truths, not even something enlightening.
We all know this stuff, it’s basic.
But somehow, it’s easier to pass days than to push ourselves harder. Yet, inside our hearts, we can’t run away from answering whether we’re worth our salt or not.