Rewards(2)
The word "metier" means the type of work that you have a natural ability to do well. I think finding one's metier is very important, but how do we do it? Recently, Dilbert inspired me to think about this with a cartoon strip involving a worker who works hard to finish a project. His boss rewards him with more work. When the worker asks whether he's being punished for his hard work, the boss tells he's being rewarded with new challenges. While that seems odd or humorous at first blush, I think Dilbert has hit on something profound. In fact, the greatest reward anyone can give you is more work, new challenges.
We all naturally seek rewards for what we do: we may seek material rewards, applause, respect or something else. As I've argued before, the only reward that really matters is our own satisfaction with a job well-done. But a close second would be the respect, the confidence in us that is expressed by giving us more work, more opportunities to do a good job. A lot of life involves the opportunities we have. To some extent, we can create our own opportunities, but if no one has sufficient confidence in us to let us try different things, it becomes difficult to fulfill our potential, to do our best, to move to new levels of performance.
We can only do what we have the chance to do. I often think that many people never find their metier because they never have the chance to try it. I often wonder how many great musicians, or athletes, or teachers, or managers, never emerge because they never get a chance to try. I tell my friends to try to expose their children to as many different pursuits as they can in the hope that one of them will be what the child is really good at, what will enable the child to maximize his or her potential. To realize our potential, we must try to find the highest and best use of our time. In order to find it, someone has to let us try.
We must look with favor on all opportunities to test our skills, to do our best. When someone asks us to do something, we should gladly accept the opportunity because we may learn, we may improve, we may find our metier. In that way, we will improve our lives. And by the way, if you're the one giving out opportunities, let people try. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you unleash.
3-29-04
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