In the 6th grade, Ms. Brady had an inch worm on the wall

In the 6th grade, Ms. Brady had an inch worm on the wall.

Each month, the student of the month would have their name added to the inch worm.

Each month, I would sit up straight in my chair when announcement time came.

I held my breath, waiting to see if this would be my month.

If I would be recognized as “the one.”

Months passed.

The inchworm grew.

Nothing.

At the end of the year

In June

My name, along with those of all of the other “not yet chosen students of the month,”

was added to the inch worm.

Squeezed into the same inch worm belly space

That a single student’s name had gone

in all the months before.

I never got my own inch worm section.

Never made student of the month.

40 years later, I still remember that feeling.

Not quite measuring up.

Not worthy of a dedicated space on the inch worm.

In the academic part of school

we had clear goals and a clear end point.

To graduate, you had to get at least passing grades.

To get passing grades, you had to pass the tests.

To pass the tests, you had to study.

There was a formula and clear path to achieving the goal of graduation.

Everyone around you was doing the same thing, so you had social proof that you were on the right path.

Then came the working world.

And we stepped off a cliff.

What were the goals?

What was required to get there?

What was the right path?

In the working world, goal posts were moved.

Requirements changed.

And we were adrift.

At work, there is never a ceremony or point in time where you will graduate.

This is not how we were taught that things were supposed to go.

All goals and accomplishments become individual ones.

The ones you choose.

You do not have the same goals as your peers anymore and you do not move forward at the same pace.

So you must be clear on what your personal goals are.

What does it mean to get passing grades for you?

To graduate?

To be valedictorian of your life?

Goals will be set, and priorities determined.

If you don’t set them, they will be set for you.

You must first determine what it is that you want.

And what graduation looks like for you.

That is the only way to be sure that you live the life that you want.

In the words of Denys Finch Hatton:

“I don’t want to live someone else’s idea of how to live…I don’t want to find out one day that I’m at the end of someone else’s life.”

Look at the systems you are in.

And be honest with yourself about who is setting the goals.

Make sure the inch worm you want your name on

Is the one that matters to you.

When you’re ready, there are two ways I can help:

1) I highly recommend the same 2-hour course ($150) I used to get started posting on LinkedIn (affiliate link): THE LINKEDIN OPERATING SYSTEM

2) We can work together to create a content system, tell your stories and amplify your brand: GHEIM@GRAYSONHAYDEN.COM