To kiss butt or not to kiss butt, that is the question...

[cybermule]

I've been mulling over something for about 18 months now, and I think I finally feel resolved on it.


To climb the career ladder lickety-split, or to bring home the bacon?



Firstly, I don't think that there's anything wrong in wanting to climb the career ladder. Or at least, nothing wrong with other people who want to do it. In fact, this is going to lead me onto a diversion about absolute and personal morality...


I have a virtual sparring partner who is convinced that all morals are absolute, and what he disapproves of for himself, he also disapproves of others doing. For me, this works in the case of absolute morality - murder, stealing, lying are all for the most part wrong, both for myself and others. But in my opinion there are other personal issues that only I can decide for myself, and I can only decide for myself.


Actively pushing your way up the career ladder is one of these - personally I'd rather not compromise my beliefs to achieve promotion, but if somebody else values promotion as one of their beliefs then I respect that. Although saying that, I think you should make your decision and be true to that. Be into furthering your career and say so, but don't pretend that you're too cool to do that then blatantly toady and finigle yourself upwards at every opportunity.


Anyway, I always declared myself to be disinterested in careers. But I have a friend who actively pursues Machiavellian means to raise his profile. This friend often disturbs me - I have a love/hate relationship with him that I suspect is due to our similarities and insecurities. I think that his attitude towards his career has highlighted some of my subconscious concerns - should I strive for promotion (it's what we're all told to do), am I really uncompetitive, do I get jealous when others are promoted, do I really care or not?


And finally today I crystallised my thoughts on these issues:

1. I do get jealous when other people get promoted (or favoured in any way) when I don't think they deserve it. This is partly just my insecurity and approval-seeking, which isn't too bad and is slowly improving. However, it is also to do with the issue of self-promotion as a whole. I think I'm too strict on this - I'd rather hand the credit on to someone else than raise my profile, then I feel bad that nobody notices me :P I'll work on that.
   
2. I want to be good at my job, and be recognised as being good. I've had that confirmed now - I got promoted without having to nag my boss, without pushing myself into situations where I had no business, and just generally without having to do anything that I'd dislike myself for. I'm happy with this.
   
3. I have plenty of money. More than enough for my needs, really - all I want is books and plants, and I'm even running out of space for those. I don't need to get more money by getting promoted or changing jobs.
   
4. I like my job. It's not boring, I've got independence and the respect of my colleagues, and it supplies the security and self-confidence I need. Therefore, unless I stagnate or get bored, I don't need promotion or a job-change.
   
5. The crucial point is that I value my time and freedom more than any other thing. To me, time is my most precious commodityn - I'm not getting any of the time I spent back at any point. My job allows me to leave on time almost every day, to have an extra day off every week and to basically drop the worries as I leave the door. To impress my way into a promotion, I would have to put in unpaid overtime, I would have to be more social and to be constantly excellent and on display. I would then achieve a higher grade where I would always have to put in unpaid overtime etc.
   

So in short, I may have some insecurities and feel bothered that I'm missing out by not being career-minded, but all I have to do is look back at this entry to remind myself that I'm not missing out on anything I care about :) On the other hand, I will work hard and take more credit for the things I do achieve, and stand up for my basic rights.


End of self-indulgent waffle... ;)



NOTE TO SELF - do entry on "time"

Comments

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

> Kissing butt is absolutely worthless in my opinion

Yeah. I just witnessed the mentioned colleague make a spectaculr tit of himself doing that, and try as I might not to snigger, it was amusing. Sounding interested and being pleasant is something I try to do as common courtesy, but like yourself I'm repulsed by blatant sucking=up. Just out of interest (I'm always fascinated by such stuff :) what is your ultimate priority?