Love Your Job

CHAPTER 5 Beyond the Job Description ■ ■ ■

Roberta Terkowitz, a former business development specialist for IBM’s cloud computing unit in the Washington, D.C., area, insisted that it was the work around the borders of her job that had been a big factor in keeping her work life happy.

“I found ways to nibble at the edge and add little bits to my work day that were even more fulfilling than the actual work at times,” says the 30-year information technology (IT) veteran. Terkowitz discovered ways to get excited about her work by looking beyond the official parameters of her job.

She is now recently retired from IBM, but I found her approach instructive. I’ll get to the myriad of ways she did this in a minute. The lesson, as you will see from her story, is that you can do things on the edges of your job that can give it meaning and make it fun and challenging again—or for the first time.

In this chapter, we will explore ways you can push yourself to try new things and different approaches to your work. Not all of them will be options for you. My suggestions are meant to get you thinking about what is possible if you push yourself to look beyond the confines of your job per se, to pull your eyes up from your cell phone and away from your computer, and really look around to see what might be out there for you.

Perhaps you could get involved in an industry association or ask to take on a special project or assume new duties. You could be a volunteer or a mentor or seek out a new mentor ...