I think everyone's wrong about needing a five year plan

I got a job as a line cook in Chicago three years ago with no real plan. I just focused on getting good at my station, then asked to learn the grill. After about a year, the head chef noticed and made me a shift lead. That never would have happened if I'd stuck to some rigid plan I wrote down. Has anyone else found that just getting good at the job in front of you opened more doors than planning did?

3 comments

3 Comments

hunt.kevin1mo ago

Totally agree. Got my first office job just answering phones and focused on fixing one broken process nobody else cared about. That got me noticed way faster than any career map I could have drawn up. What's the next station you want to learn?

thea_knight5d ago

My uncle spent two years as the guy who refilled the copier paper at a law firm before he got a chance to work on anything else. He started keeping track of which machines jammed the most and figured out a better brand of paper nobody noticed. Now he's head of IT operations and barely remembers how to change a toner cartridge.

sean_barnes831mo ago

That's a risky way to build a career though. Fixing a small thing might get you a pat on the back, but it doesn't teach you the big picture stuff. You could get stuck as the go-to person for tiny fixes while others who follow a real plan move into actual management roles. What if the boss just likes the cheap fix and never gives you real responsibility?