WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The Air Force has been very good to me. After completing my bachelor’s degree in music, I took the advice of a good friend and auditioned for the Air Force Band of Flight in the spring of 1999.
I was absolutely thrilled when I got accepted. I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I had won an audition into something darn near my dream job.
I worked my way through the Military Entrance Processing Station and then went to basic training that summer. Because of my college credits, I graduated BMT as an airman first class, and immediately began working hard to first learn and then take every opportunity to excel in my new career.
Through a combination of hard work (including a lot of studying), good mentorship, support from leaders and God’s grace, I rose through the ranks very quickly. While it took three attempts to make senior master sergeant, I made every other stripe on my first try and had the great honor of being selected for chief in 2015 after more than 15 years serving in the world’s greatest Air Force.
Because of the way my career was going, beginning around the technical sergeant level and building through master sergeant and beyond, it probably won’t surprise you that I began to get asked a lot of questions from others about how to advance in their careers and get promoted.
It seemed I had found the blueprint, after all. To some degree, I suppose that is true, and I was happy to share my thoughts with motivated Airmen.
After a while, I started to regularly get some version of this question: “Should I volunteer for this job that I think I would hate but has really good promotion potential, or do you think it would be OK to take this other job I think I would really like — even though it’s probably not as promotable a position?”
Many of you may have asked yourself a similar question over the years. I know I’ve asked myself this question, whether consciously or not, and it’s definitely a challenging one.
For those who might be wrestling with it right now, this is what I would say: It’s not just your career; you’re talking about your life! You only get to experience this one life God gave you. That’s it. How do you want to spend that time?
Sure, there have been many times over the years when I have taken on big challenges and made major sacrifices to my personal life. I used to practice 14 hours a day for months and even years on end to become the best musician I could be, with the hopes of making a career out of music. I studied like a madman on those promotion tests. I even jumped on the opportunity to serve as a military training instructor for a number of years in the middle of my career.
These were all time-consuming challenges that grew and stretched me, but I rarely hated the experience (even all that studying had a certain weird appeal sometimes). In fact, I loved all these things in different ways.
One example of a time I didn’t follow this principle was my first attempt at a master’s degree. I took a good friend’s advice and began a rigorous program. The thought was it would open all kinds of doors, improve my resume and therefore my employability down the road, not to mention look great on my records.
All of that was probably true, but the problem was I simply couldn’t stand the course material. It simply didn’t align with my values or passions at all. I put my nose to the grindstone for a while and forced myself to study and do the work, but in the end, I quit after two classes.
Know yourself, and don’t commit to work hard toward something you hate just because someone told you it would be a good idea.
My recommendation for those aspiring folks considering a change or new challenge is this: As much as possible, try to align your effort and focus with what you are passionate about. If you’re happy and interested, you are likely to work and study much harder, and even get recognized sooner than you would have if you simply did whatever you or others might think seems like the “right” career move.