Welcome to your first day on the job! Let me show you to your desk.
Hello! Welcome back. If you opened the email and are reading this, that means you must be enjoying my newsletter and want to read more. I appreciate your patronage! I must be doing something right.
This week’s newsletter picks up where the last one left off. After you apply to a job, interview, and get an offer, it’s time to actually start that job. Like the roller coaster that is job hunting and interviewing, starting a new job can also be its own wild ride.
First off: Congratulations on getting the job! That itself is a big deal. You won, and I hope you took time to celebrate!
But after the party hat comes off, the fear sets in. You’re excited, sure, but you’re also super nervous, especially if the new job is a step up in responsibilities. What if I’m not cut out for this? What if I screw up in my first week? What if I made a horrible mistake switching jobs?
That’s your imposter syndrome kicking in. More likely, though, you’re scared not because you’re worried you may not cut it, but because you have no idea what to expect—humans typically don’t like not knowing what to expect.
You only learn so much about the job during the interview process, so there’s a ton of context missing. Having no context leaves your brain with a lot of room to fill in the blanks, and your brain is really good at thinking about worst-case scenarios, which kicks the anxiety into high gear.
That’s what happens before you start your new job. The real fun begins on your first day. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with all the onboarding and information thrown at you. Or all the acronyms and lingo leave you with that deer-in-the-headlights look. You assume you need to know what everyone is talking about, but in reality you have no clue what’s going on. (Honestly, I’m a month into my new job right now and still don’t 100% know what’s going on.)
There are always a few days at the start where you’ll be drinking from the firehose, and you’ll wonder how you’ll ever keep up. But as the days and weeks go by, you’ll notice it gets easier and easier. Soon, you’ll settle in and be doing a kick-ass job. Give yourself a break! No one expects you to know everything about the job on your first day, let alone your first week or even your first month.
Here are some things I keep in mind when I start a new job that may also prove useful for you:
Take it easy! Don’t feel like you have to accomplish something big right away. Your manager knows that you’re new and still need to learn things. They don’t expect you to perform at 100% in your first week. And you’re probably thinking, “But if I do perform at 100% right away, that would be awesome and would impress my boss, right?!” Well, sure. But slow down, sparky.
Your job is like a marathon. If you try to sprint right at the start, you'll end up getting tired quickly and fall behind. Try to create a maintainable workflow. As a manager, I've had employees who wanted to impress me in the first couple of weeks with their work ethic, only to not be able to maintain that level of commitment in the long term. It’s an express route to burnout.
Conquer some small wins! Instead of getting ahead of yourself and trying to accomplish something big right off the bat, focus on some smaller wins: Complete a small, basic task ahead of schedule. Have a meaningful conversation with a new coworker. Help out a coworker with one of their tasks. Or just show you’re excited! Showing your enthusiasm goes a long way.
You may be nervous on your first day and want to do a good job, but your manager is thinking the same thing about themselves (if they’re a good manager)—they want to make sure you have everything you need to succeed and want to do a good job supporting you. So don’t get too hung up on the idea that your manager is keeping you under a microscope.
Do NOT be afraid to ask any and all questions (even the dumb ones), and don't assume you should know everything right off the bat. During a team meeting in my third week on the job, I literally asked everyone, “Uhh, what are we talking about?” Sometimes you need to be perfectly honest and blunt with your dumb questions.
You’re absolutely going to make mistakes, and that's okay. It's a part of learning, and you learn your best from mistakes. Remember that mistakes aren’t deadly (unless you’re a surgeon). They're not world-ending. Be prepared for those days so you remember to be kind toward yourself.
What was your experience like the last time you started a new job? Were you nervous? Excited? Ner-vited? Any other tips? Let me know!
Overtime
Other work-related stuff I want to talk about without dedicating an entire newsletter to it.
I want to take a moment to talk about this Malcolm Gladwell NY Post article where he essentially looks down on people who work from home. It’s made the rounds on social media, and there's already a lot of commentary about it, so I’m not going to say much. But Jesus Christ, dude, who are you to say that it’s “not in my best interest” to work from home?
Let people work where they want to work. If they hate working from home and prefer an office, let them work in an office! If they prefer working from home, let them work from home. If they prefer a coffee shop, let them work in a coffee shop. It's not up to either of us to decide what's best for someone's productivity.
Happy Hour
Fun things I’m doing, TV shows and movies I’m watching, games I’m playing, music I’m listening to, and other neat stuff I want to share.
I installed some hardcases on my Yamaha FZ6. I've never liked the look of these on a motorcycle, and I still don't, but holy moly are they awesome. It makes traveling on a motorcycle 1,000x more convenient. I think they make my bike uglier, but I'm a huge fan from a practicality standpoint.
My wife deleted her Facebook account, and I’m super proud of her. I’m pretty much at that point, but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. It's only a matter of time.
If you're a fan of Wendover Productions on YouTube, you probably already know about Jet Lag: The Game. If not, it's about a group of guys who use the world as their game board. They play Connect Four across the western US, and they also see who can circumnavigate the globe the quickest on a limited budget. It's great fun.
And lastly, it was International Cat Day on Monday, so here's a photo of Opal and Olive:
See you on August 25th, where I’ll talk about communication—specifically, communicating in writing with your coworkers. In the meantime, catch up on my previous newsletters if you’re a new subscriber, and feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram for my off-hours shenanigans.