Being newbie doesn’t mean being dumb
No one is born the best professional in the world.
I don’t know what it’s like for you to be the newbie somewhere, but your first days (or weeks, or even months) can seem like a pretty bad mess.
I’ve been working in the company of my dreams for nearly four weeks now. I have been wanting a chance there for so long, I did not even know that one day I would actually join the team.
I have participated in selective processes for years until I’m called, and my main purpose is learning. But just like everything in life, I want to give my best, and there are days when I feel like I have not done my job in the best way I could.
Every day I go there determined to do better, but sometimes my stumblings are bigger than my good will.
This is what I learned so far.
Do not feel diminished for not having experience.
When people do not know you, they do not know what to expect from you, it’s normal if they get defensive and sometimes even underestimate you. They have no way of knowing what you’re good at until they see it in practice.
The thing is, when you have no practice to perform a certain function, until you get the hang of it you’re going to look a bit lost. You will not arrive in the place looking like the best professional in the world. The more you try to prove that you have the ability to do what you are supposed to do, the less you will achieve, because you will not be focusing on your job, but on what you think others are thinking of you. This will get in your way and ruin your performance.
Keep in mind that no one is born knowing, everyone started from somewhere. And you are starting now. You need to strive to learn more every day and improve what you already absorbed, but keep in mind that you will not always get it right, and that’s okay. Just keep yourself positve and try to make less mistake next time.
Working in a company is like climbing a mountain.
Everyone sees the spotlight on who’s at the top of the mountain, but forget about the difficulty it is to climb up there. People start from the ground.
When you start to climb you slide, you stumble. Even more if it is your first expedition. You never climbed a mountain before, you do not know what that is. You have read in the books how it would be like, but you never even saw a mountain up close.
Sometimes we give a little uncalculated impulse up and we end up falling even more instead of going further — and not everyone who is climbing the same mountain as you will reach out to you when they see you fall. That’s normal, everyone wants to get to the top, and if reaching the top was common, there would be no spotlight at all.
Some stones are not so safe to hold on to. But you will only really understand this when you go there and try to climb alone for yourself.
People may shout that you are getting way back far in the beginning, they can make you believe that you will never be able to climb, but you will succeed if you remain positive, dedicated, taking small but steady steps and know what you’re doing. Learn what rocks you can hold, what equipment you can count on and value who gives you tips, who is by your side.
To climb a mountain takes time, requires commitment, dedication and humility to recognize what you have been doing wrong and how can you fix in order to have a best performance not to climb faster, but to stop falling.
There will be bad days, you will make mistakes.
This is the part that was harder for me to understand — that at some point I’ll make mistakes that will affect not only me but everyone who’s envolved in the project, once you’re part of something bigger, like a piece of a domino effect.
In a domino effect every piece is highly important for you to achieve the final result. So no matter what your role in this case, you need to do perfectly to complete the final goal. In journalism our deadlines are very strict, everything must be done really fast, especially when it comes to something factual. It is not difficult, but it does require insight.
There are days when I can complete everything quickly, clear cases to perfection and even hunt some. I feel very good, “mission accomplished”, I think. Even though this is the goal of my job and soon something that I should feel normal doing, I get really happy every time. But when, for some reason, I take longer to investigate, I take longer to receive answers that I depend on, when I forget a tiny detail that would make the difference — oh my, I feel like trash.
It is kinda bad when you feel like you’ve been stepping on the ball in a different way for a couple days, even trying hard not to. When you work in turns and something goes wrong for you, your mistake lies with your colleagues, and can end up making them overwhelmed.
When bad days come and you feel less than you really are, remember what went wrong and think about how you can solve it before it even happens in a next time. Turn your faults into self-warnings for yourself. Be prepared for the next situations taking into account what went wrong in the past and move on.
Being better doesn’t mean changing who you are.
It is normal getting upset thinking about what went wrong, but remember that struggling is good, makes us stronger, makes us grow and learn how to deal with the many harsh life situations. Always think about the positive things you can get out of a struggle.
Remember that becoming a better person does not mean changing who you are, but enhancing some area that you feel that needs repairs. It’s kinda like a software that is already good but needs to be improved based on it’s bugs.
Last but not least.
Listen, pay attention, understand, learn and do your best — always striving for excellence, but acknowledging your shortcomings and knowing your limitations. Once you recognize the areas you do not master, it becomes easier to work on and improve.
Be humble, be thankful, be gentle. Everything in life is opportunity. Being newbie doesn’t mean being dumb nor that you’re not a good pro, means start to climb a mountain from the ground.
