Career Talk: Why I Agreed To Work 365 Days in 2019

If you told me in the beginning of 2018, that a year later I would agree to working 7 days a week for an entire year…I would’ve looked at you real strange. I’ve never heard of anyone in their 20’s doing something like that. All I wanted in the beginning of 2018 was my first post-grad job in a nice office with my own desk, enough money to cover my student loans and maybe splurge on something nice…or two (ha, I’m looking at you Dior shoes!).

In April 2018, I was fortunate enough to finally land my first post-grad job as a social media specialist at a corporate company. It was super close to my home (rare in Dallas!), paid well, and I didn’t even have to work in a cubicle #winning. But to be honest, it wasn’t my dream job because of the negativity from the one other person that I worked with. I didn’t complain, I simply kept to myself, and did whatever I could to earn my money and left at exactly 5pm everyday. Some days even passed by without even saying a word to anyone. I had no passion and the only thing that made me feel good was that I had a steady paycheck every week.

Then one day last summer, I was told that things were going to change and I was going to have more responsibilities. To my surprise, I was taking over social media…completely. I realized this was my one chance to prove myself and worked harder than I ever did in my life and it finally paid off. I got promoted to Social Media Manager a few weeks before the new year and…also agreed to work 365 days in 2019. I always heard that social media is a 24/7 job but I didn’t know it was so literal! Even on the weekends, even on vacations, and even on holidays.

Here’s why I did it and why I hope every single one of you will take big chances like this in your careers too!

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C A R E E R – C H A N G E R

Once in a while you get an opportunity that might change the course of your career forever. For me, the opportunity to work 365 days was one of them. I mean, just imagine how good that looks on a resume! Talk about dedication lol. At first, when I got the offer I was actually afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m prone to getting burn-out quite quickly and have struggled to find the balance between work and life in the past. What if I quit halfway through? What if I don’t make it to a year? It scared me and I didn’t feel like I was “ready”. Here’s the thing: there’s no such thing as being “ready”. Sometimes you just have to jump into it

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T W E N T I E S M O D E

While being in your twenties is tough, we all have to agree that this is your “selfish years” and the only time in your life where you have tons of energy and don’t have to worry about taking care of kids or other major responsibilities (until your late 20’s/early 30’s…or maybe even later!). That’s why I feel the need to take advantage of this opportunity and to work as hard as possible in order to be rewarded in the future. I thought that once college was over, I would “relax” more and my life would slow down since I have a steady job but now I feel like it should be the complete opposite!

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F I G U R I N G O U T Y O U R P A S S I O N

I was a sophomore in college (studying finance, woah) and only a few months into blogging when I had figured out that I wanted a career in social media. Back then, social media jobs were just emerging and no one really knew what a social media career involved. It’s still such a new industry and while I feel like I’ve found my passion in life and can’t imagine doing anything else – I think taking a role like this will help me to figure out if this is something I would want to do for the rest of my life.

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T H A T F E E L I N G O F A C C O M P L I S H M E N T

Ever since I graduated college, moved to Dallas and landed my first post-grad job, I’ve been looking for a new challenge. I was afraid things were going to get routine and monotonous once I settled into a job and at times, it did feel like that but I feel like this challenge reignited my passion again and made me want to push harder to accomplish more things with my career! The possibilities now seem endless.

Have you ever taken big risks with your career? Comment below and let me know!

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