Engineers report to the job at least 8 hours a day to comply for daily paid duty. In that 8 full hours, there is only little break with most of the time spent on matters that need to be accomplished.
Time comes when you have to log out of your job for the day. You have accomplished so much, or so little, depending on your level of presence and assigned activities at the office or site.
After that, what do you do after work?
What most people miss is that success has a formula that involves so much of what a person does in his or her free time. Many believe that the direction of their career depends solely on what is done in the course of the paid office hours, which is wrong.
A great indicator of an engineer’s success is how he or she makes use of time, regardless on and off the job.
There’s not much to do before starting work in the morning because of the little time. You wake up, fix yourself and some stuff, eat breakfast, and head to work right away. It is fast-paced.
But there is so much time to spend on things right after the job. The moments between you step out of your office or site and when you sleep is dependent on the engineer on how he or she wants to spend it. Your free time after office often depends upon priorities.
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Some choose to slack off and just sulk into watching television while resting. Some play Candy Crush Saga to relax the mind, and stalk their Facebook crushes when they have no more lives. Others choose to binge watch their favorite television series to keep them sane. Nothing is wrong with all of these activities, as quality time is but a relative concept.
And there are those who choose to be more productive out of the office and bring home some work to do. Some read books to enhance their mind in a variety of topics. Few even do extra engineering work at home to finish important personal projects. Several meet with old friends over dinner sometimes to keep their connections. The ones with family spend time with their kids, even go outside to have fun.
These are the people who will most likely be successful later on, because they know how to make use of their time on things that matter. They do not waste an opportunity to grow more upon themselves and always seek to improve.
Every little thing that you do and think of when no one is charge of you speaks so much of yourself and your focus in life. You do not know it at the moment but such little things are shaping your future and your career.
Mahatma Gandhi once said,
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
So the next time you finish your day’s job, invest in yourself by making wise use of your free time. Start from the little things as they will just grow. Keep your eye on the goal in becoming the most valuable engineer by acquiring more skills even off the job.
