When my wife and I lived on the east coast, we had lots of friends and colleagues that would take the same kinds of vacations. The Caribbean resorts were very popular, followed by cruises and other stateside beach resorts. I’d ask people what they do, and usually get a response like: eating, drinking, sleeping in, snorkeling, stuff like that.
I remember my wife (girlfriend at the time) had the opportunity to go to a conference at a nice resort hotel so we thought we’d try one of these decadent vacations on for size. Once her conference was over we sat pool side and had drinks, went to the beach……and were pretty seriously bored! We’re also not a big fan of day drinking.
Fast forward a few years and I had the opportunity to do some travel for work. I eventually traveled to Europe, Middle East, Australia, South America and all over the US including Alaska and Hawaii. What my wife and I learned very early on was we had a passion for travel and had a much better time traveling for work than a vacation where we had to pay to see touristy stuff.
Working with locals to figure out how to solve problems and get things done is real satisfying. Sure I do get to break away and see some sights, and I do that all the time. But the part I really look forward to is accomplishing something with different people in different places.
Back at the Office
My company has thousands of US-based employees. Many have the same skills I have, also many have more advanced degrees, more experience, etc. However, the things that most do not have are tenacity, patience, and courage.
When I return to my office at work I have people that come up to me all the time and ask how I get these great opportunities. The thing is it took me many years, often working in less desirable areas from industrial northern New Jersey to wartime Iraq in 2007. Only after I served my time was I able to get prime assignments.
Here is the path that I took
- Tenacity and patience – You put your name in for travel assignments, but you’ll get ignored, turned down, patronized, and passed over. If you quit, you’ll never get your chance. If you stick it out, you’ll still get ignored, turned down, patronized and passed over, but if you have tenacity (and brains) you’ll eventually get what you want.
- Don’t say no! – This happens all the time. There are people left and right that will put their name in the hat for a travel assignment, but when push comes to shove, they bail out. I’ve heard all kinds of excuses, but bottom line, once you put your name in…go! Do not say no, be ready.
- Courage – be willing to take a chance, just make sure it’s a calculated chance. Opportunities, or rather, the best opportunities I have seen come along when I don’t expect them and when I don’t feel ready for them. If you let the opportunity pass you by because you think you’re not ready, you could be making a big mistake. You’re probably more ready than you think you are, so just go for it.
- Volunteer – I’ve always been surprised by how many people don’t even bother volunteering, they just assume opportunities fall in their lap.
- Reputation – develop a reputation of someone that is a finisher, that gets things done. You’re not going to get the opportunity you want if you run around and knock the tops off tasks so that others have to come clean up behind you, let alone show that you are trustworthy enough to send to an exotic location and take care of business.
- Don’t back down – If you’re young/new, there’s a good chance you will never hear about prime travel opportunities. That’s because they get snatched up quickly and never even advertised. The crappy places though, that’s a different story, there’s a good chance management is clamoring to find someone. This is your entry opportunity… which leads to
- Commit – A week in south France? Or a few days on a Caribbean island? How about Libya for 6 months instead. There are no shortage of weekend warriors out there willing to travel to some cool exotic place for a short duration. But take a tough environment and go there for long duration, leaving loved ones behind? That is where it’s at. You likely need to commit to at least one if not two of those assignments, and do good work in the process, thereby serving your time and paying your dues.
Put In the Work
Now that I’ve had some really great travel experiences I can see why it was hard to get in the door. I had to overcome years (yes years) of rejection before I got the work I wanted. In hindsight it was worth it though, it forced me to do better at my job and learn more. Had I done what everyone else did, I would still be stuck in a cubicle.
Still to this day most of the people I encounter want an easy button approach and aren’t willing to put in the hard work. If I find myself in a position where I get to dole out a choice assignment, I’m looking for someone that is a hustler, a hard worker and not someone that just wants to be a weekend warrior.
This same general concept applies to many other areas as well. If you’re not interested in travel, but instead something else, you may have to do quite a bit of hard work and positioning before you can get that choice opportunity. Be smart about your pursuit and don’t give up.