Over the past week, I’ve realized how doing assignments that I might not feel “qualified” for can benefit me more than I might realize. My organization has been working on a land bank partnership agreement for the past couple of weeks and I’ve been attending the meetings pertaining to the agreement application. I knew nothing about banks or land banks when this project was uncovered and I found myself getting a bit lost during the meetings. I tried to make educated guessed when certain terminology confused me and I walked away still somewhat putting the pieces together.
I thought that I was being plopped into the meetings in order to learn about what was going on and to provide the small amount of insight that I could into available resources for potential residents looking to buy a home. While this was true, I was unaware that I would have a little bit larger role and that I would end up doing several tasks that made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. Although I definitely do not have a big role in the application process, some smaller application research requirements have fallen into my lap.
As I said before, I knew nothing about the subject matter and then suddenly I found myself drafted to call banks and research their products. I was thrown into technical language about loans and rehabilitation resources for residents planning to bid on land bank owned properties. Although I wouldn’t have pictured myself working on these types of issues, I’ve learned more than I thought I would’ve within these past weeks and all because I stepped up to the task and out of my comfort zone.
Way to step up to the challenge Mac. I’ve had a similar experience at my organization, but learning how to push through and adapt are valuable skills that we can take with us forever.
You never know what you’re going to learn (even when you are “unconsciously” ‘plopped’ into new projects, environments, and ideas, etc. Keep up the curiosity and determination! I thoroughly enjoyed our park lunch outing. 🙂