For Love or Money

This is a question that most of us wrestle with at some point in our lives.  Do we look for the position with the better pay, the better chance for advancement, better chance to learn the industry, or do we try to find a happy medium of those things.  

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to learn from a few people who I would consider very successful in their careers and one common theme kept coming up.  Many times before I'd heard, "Don't do it for the money," or "Find what you love, not what pays the best," but this time it was different!  Maybe it's getting older.  Call it living experience.  Whatever.  This time what I heard was put best by Leigh Davis, a successful manager in Southern Company's real estate division.  She said, "Don't chase a dollar, chase an experience."

Life forces us to choose...or so we think.  Richard Murray, Group President of RBC Bank in Alabama and Florida said, "Don't look for a chance to make money, look for a chance to learn something."  I'd always thought of it as a tradeoff: if you want to be successful, you have to always start with the higher salary/best opportunity for a promotion.  Now, several years into my career, I realize that it's much more important to keep learning.  

My challenge is just that.  Chase an experience.  Learn something.  KEEP THINKING!!!