On Wednesday August 18, 2010 I organized a local chapter of the Brazen Careerist’s “Crowdsource Your Career” meetup where 8 other fellow brazen careerists and I met – some for the first time, although many were very familiar faces—to talk about why we were drawn to Brazen Careerist and to discuss the question of the day (below). It was certainly a success (if I ignore the loud after-work crowd at nearby tables). I both met some new people (with new perspectives) and made even stronger connections with some Brazenites that I had not yet had the chance to speak with in such depth. Even more exciting is that we will be organizing similar continuing meetups from now on to help support the Triangle’s community of young professionals (and wannabes), providing feedback, guidance, and mentorship. More on that later, though! On to the question of the day.

Question: What does it mean to be in the driver’s seat of your life and career?

Answer 1: You are in control, no one else. You might have backseat drivers that try and tell you what you do – but ultimately you make decisions. – Courtney Burns

Answer 2: You determine your worth. You control the flow of income based on your own schedule. Autonomy. The ability to make your own decisions. – Brianne Villano

Answer 3: To be in the driver’s seat of my life and career does not mean that I have to name a destination. Each minor decision is my decision. I may make a wrong turn according to my backseat drivers, but who is to say what is wrong and right when you don’t know where you are going (or how you are getting there). Being in the driver’s seat means being in control, listening to your self and being confident in your decisions. – Rianna Mallard

Answer 4: You know what you want to do, and you know how to get it. – Tony Shaffner

Answer 5: You are following your passion with a single focus and you are the determiner and measurer of success. – Bruce Robinson

Answer 6: You turn off the GPS and toss the maps of people’s previous travels and go for it! – Emily Moore

Answer 7: Driving is important and at the same time it’s important to drive with a purpose, of intention, a destination or you could be driving aimlessly. Being in the driver’s seat of your career is about being aware of your external environment: education, career, and life options and making the decisions/choices for your life with your inner knowing (self-knowledge), to ensure that your drive has meaning and purpose for you. – Latoya Williams

Answer 8: You’re location independent, you are financially independent & you love what you do. – Kristen Jeffers

Although all of us are Brazenites (yea, I used that word, again), everyone took a different angle in responding to the question. Some of us took the driver’s seat analogy a little further while others completely ignored it and got to the heart of the meaning. I think what we all agreed upon, though was that “being in the driver’s seat” means having control and a direction (although some would argue that you don’t need a destination). And even more than that, we all believe that it’s important to be independent, driven (no pun intended), passionate, happy, and that to be in the driver’s seat of your life sometimes you need to break away from the mold.

I can think of a few other qualities of a driver, too:

• Leadership. Think about when you’re in a group and need to decide who’s going to drive some place, chances are the same person offers to drive over and over again. They’re being a leader, taking the reigns when nobody else steps up.
• Competency. There are some basic competencies a person needs to be in the driver’s seat. You have to learn a new skill, practice, pass a test, and then prove every time you get in that seat that you still have a right to be there by knowing the rules to play by. Our lives and careers are the same. We need some basic skills to get us going, but then it’s up to us to stay in the game.
• Adequacy. Let’s face it, we’re all adequate enough drivers, we get from place to place hopefully without crashing, but very few of us have mastered the art of driving as stunt drivers have. The same goes for our lives: we’re not perfect, but “ya mon, ebeything’s gonna be alright”, or rather, we get by!

I think it ended up being a pretty good analogy, don’t you think?

Thanks again to Ryan Paugh at Brazen Careerist for setting up the meetup and getting us started connecting face-to-face!

Related posts:

1. First Speaking Engagements. Scary, Right?
2. Lesson From Social Media Day: I’m An Expert, Too
3. I’m A Human Being, Not A Human Doing