Giving time can pay big dividends for all

Being Frank, by Frank Ameduri

Over the past several weeks I've had the great honor and joy to take part in a series of career days at Valley middle schools. Local people from different careers visit the schools and tell students about their jobs. It's a great way for the students to learn about several different kinds of careers, and it's a lot of fun for those of us who get to visit with the students. The way it works is that each presenter gets a classroom, and the students file through one group at a time for 20-minute sessions.

At a recent career day I followed behind a presenter whose career was in finance. My second group came in full of energy and excitement.

"So, what are you going to promise us?" one student asked. "The last guy said we'd make truckloads of money if we chose his career."

"Yeah," another student said. "He was handing out dollar bills." It was obviously going to be a tough crowd. I didn't have any dollars and, trust me, I can't offer truckloads of money to budding journalists. What I can offer is some honesty and a little advice.

Beginning with that second group I started my presentation off with a little advice my grandfather gave me when I was in middle school. He'd just asked me that question that grown-ups so often ask middle school students.

"So, what do you want to be when you grow up?" In all truth, I hadn't given it much thought. When you're in middle school, just the thought of being "grown up" seems like enough. Why clutter up the fantasy with all that work stuff? At any rate, here's what Grampa said:

"If you want to be happy, this is what you do. First, find something you love to do. Then, figure out a way to make them pay you for it."

'Them' were apparently the people with enough money to pay the rest of us to work. Presumably, Them don't have to worry about what they're going to be when the grow up. Initially, I thought I might want to grow up to be one of Them. Later, I realized Them look miserable and stressed most of the time, so I gave up on the idea.

The thing is, Grampa's advice was the best I'd ever get. I've had the opportunity to put it to the test. I know the most ideal situation is when you're doing the work you love and earning truckloads of money all at the same time. I also know that situation isn't as common as it ought to be. The worst situation is not working at all. The next worse is doing work you hate for a pocketful of change. A lot of people end up doing work they can tolerate for a paycheck they can live with. Some people, like myself, do work they love for a tolerable paycheck. I've known plenty of folks who stick with jobs that make them miserable because they're earning truckloads of money. It never seems to occur to them that, no matter how long they keep earning truckloads of money, they're still miserable.

"Work isn't supposed to be fun," one of my old bosses told me. "If it was fun, they wouldn't have to pay you to do it." I don't subscribe to that philosophy. It's not my happiness I sell to my employer, it's the use of my experience and skills, and it's some of my time. My happiness is not for sale, and no amount of money would be enough to purchase it. And that's the key to the formula that leads to my grandfather's definition of happiness. The key is to make yourself the most valuable person available at the thing you love to do -- then don't settle for less than what you're worth. Some employers are tempted to pay their most passionate employees less, because passion has a way of keeping people in their job. Don't ever forget to factor in your passion when you're negotiating that paycheck -- it's worth a lot.

So, when I go to the next career day, I'm not going to bring a pocketful of dollars. I'm just going to tell those students to remember that money is a means to an end -- it's never an end in itself. Money is also always worth more when you earn it. Isn't everything?

Frank Ameduri isn't as old as he sounds.