“Please, please tell me that’s thunder,” I remember saying to my roommate.
It was a muggy August morning 12 years ago, and I was exhausted. So when I saw that the sky had become a dark shade of gray and heavy downpour was imminent, I nearly wept with joy. Not because I particularly like rain, but because it meant I was getting a break.
At the time, I was working as a sports writer for a local newspaper while moonlighting as a bartender/beverage cart operator at a golf course. During one particular week, I was truly burning the candle at both ends. We were putting together the fall sports preview supplement at the paper, and a big tournament was being held at the club. For me, that meant working several late nights on my preview articles, and then having to wake up at the crack of dawn to sell drinks to thirsty golfers.
I loved being a reporter — it was the job I’d wanted since I was a kid. But the pay at a local newspaper in Pennsylvania was paltry, forcing me to take a part-time job to help supplement my income. In fact, I made more money passing out cold beers than cranking out articles.
But despite having youth on my side, having two jobs was draining. There were times when I wanted nothing more than to call it quits and pursue a career that offered more than a pittance — and would enable me to have more of a social life. When I brought this up to my dad, he told me about the long days he spent working a full-time job and pursuing his master’s degree. He’d study on the bus, go home and help put the kids to bed, and then do some more work. It was exhausting, he said, but he knew that in the long run, the hard work would pay off.
In short, he told me, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you want to move forward in your career, you have to be willing to make sacrifices, whether that means putting in extra hours, taking on additional tasks, or even accepting a job that isn’t close to home.
I thought about what he said, and realized I’d already done some of those things. I’d never planned to move to Pennsylvania, but I packed my bags, because that’s where the job was. I detested covering town hall meetings, but I gritted my teeth and did it, because I knew it was a good way to get noticed by editors. I realized I’d already made some sacrifices, so why stop now?
Eventually, I landed a job writing for the Newark Star-Ledger, the paper I’d grown up reading. I still have that first clipping saved. After a few years, I ended up leaving the paper when I discovered how much I enjoyed writing about health issues, and decided to take my career in another direction. But I’ll always be grateful for the time I spent as a newspaper reporter, and I still hold on to the many lessons I learned.
What triggered this trip down memory lane was the discussion I had recently with Cara Babachicos of Partners Healthcare, who talked about the importance of seizing career opportunities — even if they may not seem ideal in every way. One thing that has helped her tremendously is her willingness to say yes when others might have said no. “The timing isn’t always going to be perfect,” she said, recalling a time several years ago when she was offered the position of associate director of IS at Winchester Hospital while pursuing her master’s in health administration.
Despite having a full schedule as a student, she accepted the job. “I was presented with the opportunity to not only manage the application side of the house but also around Y2K to take on the technology. It was right at the point where we had to put in probably 12 different routers across all of our different sites, and other than knowing how to spell ‘router,’ I really didn’t know how the technology worked.”
But the Gamble paid off for Babachicos, who said taking on that responsibility helped expand her experience, which in turn helped prepare her for the role she holds today.
“It’s all the different things that come your way,” she noted. “If they seem interesting enough, you should take that chance and try to make it work. It’s not always going to be a perfect fit with where you are in your personal life or the commute, but sometimes you just have to do it.”
What can be far more risky, it seems, is never taking any chances.
Share Your Thoughts
You must be logged in to post a comment.