As a kid, I never knew what the word job really meant. For me it was nothing more than a broad term only adults could handle. A few years go by and I find myself in Australia, the other corner of the world, about to have my first job interview with the CEO of a big company. A hundred things crossed my mind as soon as I heard about. Being my first job interview and first job ever, I did not know what to expect from it, and more specifically, I did not know if I was good enough for the internship. Surprisingly, 6 weeks have passed since I started my job and I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable every day. So far I have already learned two of the most valuable lessons of my life; organization and smiling.
I’ve always been pretty disorganized in my life. I am used to do things at the last moment. This has always bothered me, because I have never had the opportunity to polish my own ideas, turning out to be always very disorganized. I keep making the same mistake over and over again, even though I have said I have to correct that about myself. Since I started my job in Cornerstone Bookkeeping, I have been working in my biggest liability, organizing and updating. I had never realized how important keeping order and being organized was until this moment. My boss continuously emphasizes how important it is to be organized with the paperwork and the ideas since the beginning. I’ve come to realize that organization is the most important factor when you run a business. If one is not organized since the very beginning, growing as a company will only create more disorganization, and in return, more conflict and less chances of succeeding. Therefore, I have already started to be more organized with my scheduling and my ideas, and this has led me to be more efficient in both my internship and my daily life.
Another thing I have learned is to smile in the workplace. Before I got my internship, I used to believe the workplace was a very serious environment where everybody carried long poker faces. One day my boss approached me while I was working on my desk and said, “hey mate, smile”. This shocked me at first, but then I gave it a thought and analyzed what he was telling me. Smiling does not mean the work is going to be less serious. It just creates a better environment for yourself and the people working around you. It is important to smile no matter how difficult the task might be. This lesson does not only apply in the working environment. Smiling is something we have to do more often. This just makes us happier overall.
This being said, it has been only six weeks since I started my “job” and I already learned two valuable lessons I will apply in the future; being organized and smiling. I have come to realize that what I was worried about at first, turned out to be something I am now looking for. The lessons I learn while I work not only help me understand the working environment; they also help me improve my behavior and get rid of my bad habits. I cannot wait to see what other valuable lessons this internship has awaiting for me.