As a marketing executive, my job was to prepare marketing plans and conduct research for clients. I saw my job as a 9-5 obligation that pays the bills and nothing more. I would do the bare minimum, coast through meetings, and always clock out on time.
My colleagues, however, would always take on more tasks and stayed later than me. Seeing how they worked every day, I felt sorry for them and thought it was good that I had set boundaries for myself.
Then, three of my colleagues started to get promotions, but not me.
What stung the most was that I had been at this company for almost five years while all three of them had joined after me. One of them was just hired last year! So, why was I being overlooked? What was I doing wrong?
Although I have never been outspoken, and rarely spoke up to my superiors, I gathered all the courage I had to talk to my boss. I needed to understand what was holding me back.
It turned out that my boss felt I wasn't ready to advance from my current role because I hadn’t shown initiative to learn and lead. I was shocked to hear this, as I thought I was doing a good job simply by fulfilling the minimum requirements of my role.
Fortunately, my boss was considerate and decided to give me a chance to prove myself by setting clear performance metrics for me to improve upon. It made me realise that I needed to step up if I wanted a promotion. From that moment on, I put more effort into every task I did and made sure that my contributions were visible to others.
This article is part of TSS Confessions, a weekly column where we delve into personal finance topics that are unscripted and genuine real accounts from people.
Also, we made a book! What's Keeping You Broke? An Illustrated Guide to Financial Freedom shares tips on how to better manage your finances and steer your relationship with money in the right direction.
