Aaron Rodgers, 2011 Super Bowl winning quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, said it best in 2014 when being pressed by reporters regarding the Packers 1 win and 2 loss record he stated, “R-E-L-A-X, Relax.” What Rodgers was really saying was, “Watch us make incremental improvement, be patient with us.” While the Packers didn’t win the Super Bowl in 2014, they did win their division and come one win and a few mistakes away from going to the Super Bowl.
Sports metaphors aside, I believe in that attitude of incremental improvement, keeping a cool head, and letting things work themselves out while employing proactivity is relevant to the career conversation. Proactivity and patience may seem to be paradoxical in the career conversation, but in actuality, proactivity places us on an intentional path while patience helps us enjoy the journey.
Incrementalism is the idea that one thing builds on another over time. It is the idea that for change to happen both socially and personally, we must make small decisions that add up to the monumental change and success we are so desperately seeking. To head back into sports analogies, it’s like hitting a bunch of singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fences every time up to bat.
I was so drawn to this topic because I immediately saw incrementalism in every step of my journey. This is how incrementalism specifically played out in my life in college:
- I entered Longwood University as an undeclared student which allowed me to knock out most of my general education requirements my first year;
- My interest in science and potentially dentistry led to majoring in Biology;
- Majoring in biology and completely disliking it led me towards pursuing my passion for working with youth in nonprofit settings and switching my major to communication studies;
- That passion furthered my involvement in a certain non-profit organization and inspired me to coach football and basketball at a local high school;
- My involvement in the non-profit organization led me to intern with the organization, and ultimately, that experience led me to realize I cannot just cannot with high school students any longer and working full time for the organization was not for me;
- That realization led me to continue to be an RA for a third year, to become even more involved with the Longwood Ambassadors, and to join a fraternity;
- The leadership positions in all of those organizations helped me realize that the mentoring, educating, and supporting occupation I was seeking was Higher Education;
- That realization led me to apply and ultimately be accepted into graduate school for College Student Development;
What is paramount to realize about incrementalism is that while proactivity and patience might seem paradoxical, both are necessary to take you to where you want to be. My bulleted path might seem linear now as you read this article, but I guarantee you, it did not feel linear as I was walking the path.
Proactivity is about options. The choices you make regarding involvement, study habits, and professional experiences all impact your options. For example, I never pictured I would go to grad school, but when I realized late in my college career I had to go to grad school to get to where I wanted to be, my GPA was high enough to get me in. One piece of our message in University Career Services is: reflect, act, and re-tool. We think hard, ask ourselves the right questions, have others dig into our passions and dreams, and then act on the conclusions. Then, based on the experiences we involve ourselves in, we re-tool by asking ourselves what we enjoy and/or don’t enjoy about what we are studying or involved in. This then continues the cycle of reflect, act, and retool. The second piece to our message in University Career Services is: understanding the job market. Not as flashy, but just as functional. We must realize that 70% of folks who are hired for jobs and internships are hired through referrals. It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you. Through LinkedIn we not only network to get jobs, internships, and shadowing opportunities, but we can connect with alumni in fields/jobs we are interested in to avoid feeling like we have to reinvent the wheel. Longwood Alum are working in the field you want to work in and that many more folks are not Longwood Alum but also want to help you learn more about a path and get you to where you want to be. Proactivity isn’t just about reflection, action, and involvement, it’s also about establishing connections and getting advice in order to create options for yourself.
Patience is about enjoying the ride and approaching your future with a clear mind. Pressure and difficult decisions are constant realities of life. The trouble with navigating proactivity while still employing patience is that you can’t always be making decisions, altering plans, and seeking immediate satisfaction and ah-ha moments. What came first, the chicken or the egg? What comes first, intellectually realizing your passion or discovering your passion through involvement or experiences? Incrementalism is where proactivity meets patience, where we strategically pursue goals while remaining patient because we believe that each experience will lead and influence the next opportunity. We are all different in the way we think, experience, and plan, but one constant along with the pressure and difficult decisions in life must be patience.
Incrementalism is difficult and sometimes we hit home runs and have it all figured out. From my experience, interactions with peers and students, and reading career literature, most of us are just hitting singles and incrementally building on our passions and experiences. To fully pursue our passions we both R-E-L-A-X and remain intentional and purposeful in our decision making.
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