Last time I checked in with “Smart Guy" I was in the process of packing up and moving to Colorado to begin a new journey. I’ve been here for a while, and I’ve been working for a month now. It’s been a whirlwind, for sure, but my first month with the Rockies has been awesome. I’ve finally begun to get a firm grasp of my role and responsibilities after the initial shock of learning hundreds of names and having a bunch of new information thrown at me. I am even more confident now that I made the right decision for my professional future, and I’m glad that I had positioned myself to be able to switch to this career off the field.
There have been challenges, of course, and I anticipate that there always will be; there are challenges in everything that we do in life. For starters, I have to wake up at 5:20 a.m., instead of 9:00. My commute to Coors Field is 40 minutes each way, instead of the five minutes like it was in Tampa or 15 minutes in LA. Now I work from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. or so. The days of working for three hours and laying on the couch the rest of the day are long gone–if you can call playing a sport “work” at all. None of these new issues are bad, necessarily; they are just major adjustments.
The toughest part of this transition has been finding time to work out and stay fit. Being fit has been a major part of my life, but I always had a built-in source of exercise in the form of practice and team training. Now it’s up to me create my own time to work out, so I’ve been waking up at 5:20 a.m. to get a run and lift in before work.
I haven’t had time to miss soccer yet, but I keep up with all of the MLS and international soccer news. I’ll always stay informed of what my brother and friends are doing, playing in the US and abroad, and my love for soccer will never change. I’ll eventually try to find a league to start playing in, but right now I’m fine with just being a spectator.
The excitement of this new challenge has far overshadowed the difficulties, and there are so many things that make me happy to work for the Rockies in my new role. I still get to be part of a team. Of course this team is a lot different, a lot less banter and it’s not 30 other dudes, but I work closely with a number of other people and we all rely on each other to make the pieces fit. When you’ve been on teams your whole life, you become accustomed to depending on other people and having them depend on you to make the team successful. That dependence on teammates is just as important in the office setting. My athletic background and team-first mentality has made this piece of office life one of my strong points and, I believe, created a good first impression.
One of my favorite parts of my role as a writer for Rockies Magazine is that I get to work with virtually everyone from the front office. My responsibilities require that I interact with all departments. I’m interviewing people from the Promotions Department for articles, collaborating with Corporate Sales on magazine advertisements, talking with Ticketing employees for a variety of reasons and learning about Community’s upcoming events so I can write a piece on it. And getting to know some of the players is cool too; they’re a good group of guys. I’m all over the building and I like that a lot.
I’ve always been a leader on my soccer teams, and I’m learning to lead in new ways now because I’m the new guy in a new environment. I’ve been trying to lead by example, being the first one in the office and one of the last to leave, to demonstrate my work ethic and dedication. Listening and learning is a key part of leadership, and I’ve been doing a lot of that as I continue to learn the ropes. Eventually, I’ll be able to step up more when I feel more comfortable, but that will come in time.
We’re nearly finished with the April issue of Rockies Magazine, the first that I’ve been heavily involved in, and I’ve really enjoyed writing it. Writing is what I love to do and that one of the major attractions to this position for me. We work with excellent freelance writers who do many of the feature stories for us, but my “boss” and I write most of the magazine and plan the content each month. I’m also one of the people in the organization who handle social media responsibilities, an exciting and ever-changing part of my job. Each month is a new, exciting project and I’m already seeing that no two days in my job will be the same. This is the perfect avenue for me to utilize many of the skills that I bring to the table, and I’m already feeling a lot more fulfilled in this role.
Anyways, my wife and I have been spending the weekends relaxing and house-hunting in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, a Denver suburb where we hope to settle down long-term. Our dogs are happy. There are exciting times ahead, for sure, and I look forward to what the future holds, both professionally and personally.
A Thoughtful Smart Guy,
Julian
No comments:
Post a Comment