PLACEMENT > performance

Part 2 of placement outperforming performance:

I could list out even more times how being in the right game worked out for me, even with little effort. I should write that for the next post.

Being in the right game, the right work, the right organisation, really is the shortcut no one talks about.

I learned this the easy way:

• My first job in the social sector was in the National Council of Social Service. Probably the best job I ever had. The people were nice. The culture was caring. My bosses were nurturing. The work was meaningful. The opportunities were plenty. I did so well there I was top performer, and promoted from entry level executive to department manager in two years. I worked hard of course, but effort translated to reward smoothly. The bonus: I even met my future wife there.

• Design thinking in government as a vocation. It was one of those jobs which didn’t exist in school. The job didn’t even exist in government until I joined it. But I took to it like fish in water. The innovation, the idea synthesis, the intrapreneurial instincts, the collaborative mindsets, the creative skills, all tapped on talents I already had. I did well in the job even without any formal training in design, policy, consulting.

• Carrd plugins, the side project that ended up being my main schtick. It all started from being a fan of the platform. I loved using Carrd, had fun building with it, and started hacking some code snippets for it out of necessity. Shared my code with other Carrd folks just to help one another out. Then it just grew and grew from there, even without me marketing it much in the beginning. It felt like running downhill, pulled forward by gravity, compared to all the other products where I felt like I was pushing a boulder uphill and going nowhere.

Every time the game was right, I thrived. Hard work was still required nonetheless, but it didn’t feel forced, it had the “Hell, yeah!” vibes, and things were smooth sailing.

PLACEMENT > performance