Most marketing job descriptions look for someone who is "self-motivated, and who can thrive in fast paced, high-stress and multiple deadline environments." I fit this description and then some... People always describe me as ambitious, driven, passionate and extremely self-motivated. You don't have to push me much, because chances are I'm already pushing myself harder! When it comes to matters involving my career - I am one fierce competitor and I simply don't stop until the job is done with excellent results and exceeding people's expectations.
The year 2012 truly pushed my limits in the area of my career... I started working as a Director of Marketing for a global company, managing integrated marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 strategic accounts. What I didn't know was that I was walking into a company facing a crisis situation that involved an exponentially growing business that did not have the infrastructure to support it, plus the threat of a company merger that turned into reality. My job meant building a team, managing high profile business, delivering on the impossible and trying to create miracles in one way or another to get the job done... Simply put I WORKED NON-STOP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week surfing international time lines.
At the back of my mind, I thought that when the crisis and threat was over things would get better, and that I would find a way to balance life and work. 6 months into the job things continued to escalate, and my workload increased as members of my team were being terminated. Yes, our parent company decided to merge three companies into one new company - and we were most definitely affected.
I was permanently connected to my laptop and chained to my blackberry.
No one saw me unless they were related to work. I was lucky if I remembered to eat, I ate at my desk or was plastered to some electronic device and I traded sleeping for napping in order to manage the business in all time zones. Some days sleeping wasn't possible so I took up boxing and returned to the pool - finding ways to exhaust myself to gain some rest and peace. The pool became my sanctuary and I made it a point to swim every day, one way or another.
Great things did come out of my dedication to my career - awards for my work recognized by the industry, including receiving a coveted company award unanimously voted by my peers and upper management. You would think in the face of a merger, and after all my dedication and loyalty I would be safe... But as mergers and acquisitions go - I found myself one of the casualties and was laid off, after training my replacement and the new team handling the award winning business I painstakingly built.
When it was all over I did not know what to do with myself. For the first time in my life I didn't have a plan or a goal, and simply did not know what I wanted to do next. Furthermore, I found myself staring at a husband, family and friends that seemed like strangers after dedicating myself to a year of non-stop work. This was scary and unfamiliar territory...
I've never experienced this type of "burn out" in all aspects of my life. For someone so naturally driven and a person with various plans to achieve a goal to suddenly feel nothing... this was a meltdown and exhaustion like I have never imagined possible. I dreaded waking-up the next day, when my obligations for active transition were over...
After a total melt down and crying myself to sleep - my husband left for work the next day. When I woke, he left me a poster on the refrigerator: "Michael Phelps 200m Butterfly WR 1:52:03"
So I went back to the pool and focused on what I could achieve, stroke by stroke perhaps getting a little better and maybe closer to 1:52:03... a new goal, a chance to recharge, enjoy and truly live life, and perhaps find the next challenge in my career.
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