Do awards matter?
Jealous of your friend getting awards in your team? Read this!
Well, this article is going to be very opinionated, my personal point of view.
Just remember — opinions evolve/change over time!
This is mine at this point in time!
My First Award
I remember getting my first award at my workplace, after that, I was extremely excited to go to the office every single day.
Big smile on my face, sense of achievement, FULL JOSH ON! :D
As they say,
inspiration is perishable!
After a month or so, the excitement was gone, work-life became normal.
Not that it is bad or something, just that it is the reality.
Awards are not everything in work-life!
I still remember the times when I got 5 awards in 2 years span.
At that time, I had to work on a technology stack which I DID NOT truly enjoy. I was somewhat good at that task, it got me awards. Trust me I was not happy doing it.
Life taught me that awards does not equal job-satisfaction.
Awards are like drugs!
Once you are used to getting the recognition, you crave for more and more.
But, life is not always fair!
Just like nature has seasons, even my career had — so-called — “Drought”.
Firstly, there was no job-satisfaction since I was not enjoying the technology stack I had to work upon.
Secondly, the awards stopped coming!
While I thought things couldn’t get worse,
People (within my team) who I thought did not do a good job, started getting back-to-back awards, recognition, rewards, opportunities…
This was the worst times of my career, helpless, no clue where I was heading, no guidance,…
As time passed, things became normal, as they say:
It might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever!
Learnings From The Fiasco
I learned two simple lessons from all this fiasco:
- Just because you get an award — doesn’t mean you are an expert.
- Just because you don’t get an award — doesn’t mean you’re doing a bad job.
Always think about this when you get an award or when someone else gets it!
When Oscars Made NO Sense
It was 2016 and I was watching on TV — the anniversary celebration of the Oscar Award for A.R.Rahman’s “Jai Ho” song.
That oscar was indeed one of the proud moments for Indians, seeing one of us getting the best recognition in the filmy world!
Again, I was reflecting on the same above thoughts inside my head, and realized that the Oscar Award for that song makes no sense at all!
A.R.Rahman has produced such wonderful songs in the past as well, that award does not mean that this song is better than all of his previous compositions!! Come-on! Every Indian would agree with me on this point!
You don’t need an award to certify that you are doing an awesome job!
Let’s get real!
Awards are not a bad thing after all!!!
Trust me!!!
It is just a tool which “institutions” uses to encourage positive behavior and also hope it inspires others.
This is as true as it can get. I am not sure if anyone can get any blunter.
If you get an award, Appreciate it, Express Gratitude, Thank the team and the management for support and the opportunity.
Don’t get too attached. This is it. That’s the main take away!
Key Takeaways:
- Stop taking awards seriously.
- Stop worrying about what the public thinks about you and your accomplishments.
- You don’t need an award to certify your good work.
- The most important aspect to judge your work-life is NOT by counting awards and accomplishments, it is your job satisfaction and learnings!
Thanks for reading!
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