Sean Johnson - Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson

Almost 18 months have passed since I finished A Bright Red Package. Before coming to NYC, I had found time to speak at a number of schools in Colorado and Washington. The entire time, I was consistently confronted with one glaring, apparent fact.

It seems as though students don’t care. Not enough.

They didn’t care enough to try and do something great with their college careers - chose to instead spend it drinking and partying and looking for members of hte opposite sex who’d find them attractive. All perfectly acceptable goals, but not very good at preparing oneself for the business world nor building a portfolio of awesome work they’d be proud of years later.

They don’t care enough to seek out mentors and cultivate a network - content instead with shoving their resume in front of as many HR departments as possible. They seem to care little for personalizing their resume for each potential job, let alone actually researching the company.

They don’t care enough to put their best foot forward in an interview. They walk in non-chalantly, talk in buzzwords and superfluous speech, don’t ask questions about the company or the position - besides the obligitory reference to salary five minutes into the conversation.

Companies are complaining that they can’t find superstar workers, and I feel their pain - we’ve sometimes taken months sifting through the drudge to find the one candidate who gets it.

What does ‘getting it’ mean? It means understanding that your job is little more than a reflection of who you are and what you value. And, based on the way many people interview and the way they act once they’ve been hired by some company who doesn’t quite get it either, what they value doesn’t amount to much.

Getting it means realizing that you work hard not because of the money you’ll get or the favor you’ll find with your boss, although both scenerios are extremely likely. It means working hard because it’s your life - the only life you’ll have.

As you know, I believe that working represents a sacrifice to God, a demonstration of you doing the most with the abilities you’ve been given. Maybe you don’t believe in any of that - fair enough. Doesn’t it still make more sense to pursue your work with abandon, with pride? Doesn’t it still make sense to treat it like a sacred act, because that’s exactly what it is? Doesn’t it sound nice to think of your work as a piece of art meant to express who you are and what you think it means to be alive in this world?

If you get it, then the things that I talk about in the book will come second nature to you and you’ll be on your way to a successful career in no time.

If you’re struggling to get it, or know someone who is, grab a free copy. You’ll be amazed how well it works and how much joy it can bring to your work and your job hunt.