Have you ever heard people say:” We only live once”? We’ll that is not entirely correct. We only DIE once, but we live every day. Even more so, when we purposely decide to live. To truly make our time matter.
A couple of years back, I decided to start volunteering my time with startups. I was hungry for inspiration, desperate to work with passionate people, and frustrated to be so uninspired by most of the conferences, networking events, masterclasses and other development activities offered to managers like myself. I didn’t feel I was learning anything new, and I certainly wasn’t moved to do things differently. So, I decided to invest some of my time each month with a startup.
Without exception, every, single meeting with the startup left me feeling energized and engaged. It felt like the work I was doing MATTERED. Not just because they were ever so grateful for my time and thanked me profusely every time I saw them (and they did), but I could tell that I was making a difference to them. I could see it. They saved time. (I had 10+ years of experience – they were 24 – so it goes without saying that I was able to do things within my area of expertise in five minutes that would have taken them weeks.)
The time they saved, they spent doing things within their own area of expertise. They spent them on their business, with their customers. They worried less about the things that they had entrusted to me.
On top of that, my own learning curve was steep, and I was continuously challenged by these young people, who insisted to do things that I had learned in corporate ‘couldn’t be done’ 😉.
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Too often, experienced, qualified people ask me: “Should I get this degree? Should I get certified for this?” And when I ask: “Why would you want to spend your time doing that? You already have several degrees, certificates and/or a ton of experience/proven results in that area?” And the answer is – too often: “I am bored/maybe I can get new inspiration/maybe I can fall back in love with my area of expertise”.
If you feel like this too – I would like for you to consider; is it really your professional area of expertise that needs a boost? Or is it you?
Because if you are looking to reignite your passion for [insert whatever it is that you are really good at but don’t feel passionate about any more, or don’t actually get to do, because you were promoted to management, or moved to a senior/supervisory role] then you should try investing your time in a startup.
At TIME : ANGELS, we are building a community for those of you, who want to give back.
Most people will tell me they would love to help – if they had the time. Well, you do have time. This is a network. A conference. A masterclass. But it is personal. You meet real people, who need your expertise. You get to know them and their passion. You will be engaged with their mission. And you will fall back in love with your own field of work all over again.
Positive Return on Time invested (ROT) guaranteed 😊