On The (Career) Path
It’s hard to say if Cat & Cloud started in 2016 when we opened our first brick-and-mortar, in 2014 when my first attempt at business ownership failed miserably, in 2009 when I started working with Jared, In 2006 when I dropped out of school to make minimum wage and wash dishes at my (then) dream job, in 2005 when I entered my first barista competition, or in 2003 when I decided that I was going to take this inexplicable new found love of espresso seriously.
Although it might seem that your career path is something you’ll start “later,” I promise you, you’re already on it. Even if you switch industries, every time you show up to work you’re laying the foundation that the rest of your career will be built on.
The advice on how to engage with work is endless: Show up with intention, pay attention, learn as much as you can—not just of your tasks but how the organization runs, share what you’ve learned, and the list goes on. But it all starts with giving a shit. It all starts with knowing what’s at stake: your career, your habits, your reputation. So sure, you could phone it in at your “crappy” job, but it’s important to know that you’re the one who’s missing out.