Small Wins Through Consistency

Knowing that I had so much untapped potential academically stung a bit, even if that was only subconsciously at the time. If I was doing anything back then to intentionally grow just the slightest seed, it was through my role in the workforce. I produced solid results and had some great opportunities in a relatively short period of time in retail, but I didn’t see that as a career. Who knows, that may have been me ducking responsibility? Regardless, construction was the only other thing I felt competent in at that point. But no matter how hard I was willing to work, the physical demands were tremendous and I was genuinely a boy among men in the profession. I know, no sixteen to eighteen year old male - at least not in those days - would be willing to openly admit that. Looking back, though, I definitely was. I weighed around 135 pounds, maybe 140 if I was wearing boots and I had a few rocks in my pockets. As much as I tried, I was mediocre at best. My first moment of brutal self-honesty, at least career-wise, came on January 2, 1996; that was the day I scraped ice off the rafters to nail down roofing metal.

By early March that same year, I started down a whole new path. I barely knew what went on in a manufacturing facility during the interview process but I somehow earned an offer for one of forty open positions. This was the first time the company had accepted applications for full time spots off the street in years and around a thousand people applied. I understood construction, carpentry specifically, fairly well but I didn’t consider myself all that mechanically inclined otherwise. What I had learned to do as well as anyone was show up and put in the effort. Thankfully, much of the technical understanding I had developed in carpentry translated - eventually. And while this new line of work was indeed physical, it didn’t require the sheer force that I had to expend in rough framing or pouring concrete. As I learned the routines and patterns necessary to keep up with the machines I was feeding throughout each shift, I was also learning the required steps for doing changeovers and minor maintenance. That understanding of routines and patterns has become one of the most powerful tools in everything I’ve accomplished since so we’ll give that a much deeper look soon enough.

Before I expand on my early manufacturing experience, I’ll share that I was also enrolled in a few courses at our local community college at the time. I thought I had interest in being an architect back then, mainly due to being around carpentry and construction most of my life to that point. I did fine through the classes that were directly related to architecture, but had no interest whatsoever in anything else. By the time I realized the degree I was (kind of) pursuing was a five-year program for a full time student, only to land me in a three-year internship of sorts that paid less than I was making with modest overtime in the factory, I stopped enrolling in classes.

By the end of my first year in manufacturing, I had learned to operate and set up more than half the equipment within my department. I’ve always been DRIVEN (behavioral style pun intended) to produce results. That combination yielded more opportunities than many of the folks I started with. I was still a dumpster fire waiting to happen outside of work, but I was beginning to stack up a few small wins through consistency when I was on the clock. 

Even then, success was incremental at best and very limited to what I was doing during each shift and within my home department. But in spite of all the other squandered opportunities and poor decisions, those small, consistent wins nurtured hidden seeds. Applying persistence through our adversities can harvest leadership lessons that compound over time, even if those lessons take years to sink in (like they did in my case). The reality is that accepting those lessons requires courage and self-control. We’ll pick up there next. Until then, pick on small, consistent action to nurture a seed from a bad situation you’re working through currently - and track your progress over the next week.