The Value of Organization in Your Career
Taking care of the tools of your trade makes a difference
There are still days I wish I could walk into the kitchen and find my grandfather, Dominic, cutting into his post-dinner "friendly fruit" with his pocketknife. Instead, I’m running an online business he wouldn't even recognize because he passed away before the internet was a thing. He ALWAYS reminded me to "work hard because there's no such thing as a free lunch", and he said staying organized was the key to success in anything.
Poppy, as I called him, had the best workshop in his basement. He had tons of those little drawers containing nails and screws and all types of hardware, and every single drawer was neatly labeled with those old-school Dymo plastic labels with the white letters. Everything in his home had a place, and he patiently put everything away every time he used. He passed that trait on to my dad, his oldest son, and I had the honor of growing up seeing role models like them; like my mother, who kept the family’s accounting in a 3-ring binder with looseleaf and every single transaction accounted for to the penny every day; like my grandmother Eileen, who tracked birthdays and anniversaries carefully and mailed every card in time to arrive on your special day.
I couldn’t have grown up with better role models when it came to being organized, working hard, and taking care of your belongings. I pay attention to taking care of all the tools of my own trade: my teaching tools, my textbooks, my electronic devices, my office supplies. I know where my breast model is when I hop on a virtual consult and need to demonstrate hand expression to a new parent. I can easily look up a definition in a textbook or find a picture of an unfamiliar condition because my books are neatly organized on a shelf. I track my continuing education carefully to be sure I won’t be scrambling right before recertification time comes.
As a lactation career coach and consultant, I work today to create resources that help lactation care providers stay organized in other ways as well. I want us all to have the mental space to focus on reflection, growth, aspiration, health, and resilience so that we can practice lactation care for as long as we wish. I want us each to thrive the way that we want our client families to thrive. I know in my heart that we make a lasting impact on people, and I want us to feel that our work in lactation care left a wonderful, lasting impact on us.
Though it might take a little explanation to help my grandparents understand what I do, I work to make them proud. I know my parents and my sisters are proud of me because they tell me that they are, and their actions demonstrate it.
Taking care of the tools of my trade and staying organized helps me feel prepared to continue working as hard as I can to serve others. Who do you work for?
