"Nothing Has Really Been a Detour..."

On episode 6 of The Office (BBC), secretary Dawn sits down for an interview segment and imparts some wisdom from her friend, Tim. "It is better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb," she says, "than to be halfway up one you don't."

As a recent college graduate with a fairly expensive education, this saying really hit home when I rewatched this episode last fall. In retrospect I admit that maybe it's silly to take life cues from British television comedies, but then I've never been overly judicious in where I get my advice. All I knew was I was making less per year than I owed for each year of tuition, and that I'd gone from studying Shakespeare to hawking timeshare. My proverbial ladder was looking pretty shaky indeed, and climbing it any further was starting to look like a bad plan.

Since then, and due to a number of factors, I've switched jobs, changed industries, moved to a new home, and to some extent started a whole new life. But what I've come to realize after all of this is something I probably should have known much earlier, something that would have saved me a lot of frustration over my first two years out of college; there's no such thing as a career detour if you continually endeavor to be authentic to yourself.

The quote in the title of this blog post comes from Francine Sanders who spoke today at Flashpoint Academy's Women in Media luncheon. A very large part of me was touched by what she and Jenni Prokopy of ChronicBabe.com had to say about navigating the narrative of one's life, and I very much hope that the young women who attended, as well as the young women and men who will read this blog, will find their words of value.

Both Francine and Jenni knew they wanted to be writers very early in life, and started pursuing this goal at a tender age, from writing absurdist stage plays to getting published on the front page of the local newspaper as a highschooler. Still, after college, both women found themselves doing jobs that likely never qualified as ladders they'd originally wanted to climb: Jenni began to write for a rocks and cement publication, Francine for a military wives magazine. Neither had a prior knowledge of or particular passion for the topics they were writing about when they started, but write they did.

From their respective starting points, both women found their ways into various other Jobs-with-a-capital-"J." From PR work to zines to volunteering to freelance writing; from temporary odd jobs to desk work to working with the Chicago P.D., both Jenni and Francine peppered their writing resumes with tons of bullet points that perhaps had only one thing in common: the woman behind the task.

But as it turns out, employers and colleagues respect, even admire the tenacity they showed in all of their various positions. In other words, it wasn't a matter of where they'd been; it was the direction they took once they got there that mattered.

A goal-oriented mindset teaches us that when a ladder isn't worth reaching the end of, it's better to just jump off and find a new one (with the subtext being that you'd better find the right ladder the first time). But what Francine and Jenni taught the 25 odd women in the Digital Garage today was this: when you take a job seriously, when you do your best to impart your own creativity and ingenuity into every task you take on, there is no such thing as a career detour. Every rung you climb, if done correctly, can be a step in the right direction.

In the end, if you can call today any sort of an "end," Francine and Jenni have both found places they love to be. They have demonstrated that the skills you may learn from being an office assistant or from traveling overseas or from interviewing autistic women in your spare time can be just as important as, if not more valuable than, the skills you might have learned at the bottom of a single ladder. Each seems to be satisfied both creatively and professionally. And both have not only survived but profited from taking a less direct path toward their goals.

With a diversity of tasks, projects, and responsibilities, and singular determination to respect, adhere to, and build upon the authentic passions in your life, you'll get to the top of the ladder you want to climb. Because, as it turns out, there are lots of ladders, each with infinite connections to and from others. Nowhere is it written that the best way is to go straight up. Just ask Donkey Kong.

Here are two more important nuggets of wisdom that Jenni and Francine shared.

Don't Be Afraid of Shameless Self Promotion

When you're building your name, you must take it upon yourself to teach people who you are. Join professional organizations. Place phone calls. Hand out business cards. Make it a priority to go to attend events and to travel to far away areas. Budget both the time and the money for all of this. Pitch yourself wherever you go; there's no better way to transmit your message.

Strip Away the Editor

Adulthood tells us to edit, not just our words, but our actions. Expression is at its most evocative and most touching when it is raw and unabashed; embrace the instinct to act and write as your heart dictates. Unlearn the part of you that tells you you need to interfere with your own creativity. You'll be more successful, and both you and the people who encounter your work will come to a better understanding of the author (which is, after all, the point, right?).