Lately, as I’ve been thinking about the next steps in my career, I can’t help but reflect on what has been almost 2 years of full time work. Although teaching is a very specific profession that I may not stay in for the rest of my career, there are definitely some big lessons I’ve learned about myself along the way from mistakes that I’ve made. Of course, the goal is to learn from these lessons and apply them to other professional environments. That’s why I’ve put together this list of 2 workplace mistakes that I truly never want to make again.

Not Asking For More

Money that is. You can tell when you’re good at what you do, specifically your job. How exactly? Well, besides positive feedback, there will also be more responsibilities given to you because your bosses (or clients) know that you can not only handle the job but also do it exceptionally well. This year, my second year of teaching, I found myself in this position when a number of circumstances called for me to teach two subjects, instead of one. Although I would be teaching fewer students, the responsibility was still a huge one. Think about your middle and high school teachers growing up and imagine the amount of grading and preparation that went into them teaching one subject. Now imagine doing double the amount of work. To give you a bit more context, I’d be the only teacher in the entire school teaching two subjects.

Initially I viewed it as a great honor, and don’t get me wrong it truly is. It says a lot that I could be trusted to teach two subject areas. However when I tell a lot of my friends or other teachers about my situation, the first question they ask me is “well are you getting paid more?”. The answer is no. And it’s no because I didn’t even bother to ask. I made a number of assumptions about what was available and what my new role entailed. Ultimately I did not even think to ask for additional income.

The takeaway from this situation is to not only know my worth, but to ask for it (and then add tax).

It’s still very unlikely that I would have actually received a pay raise but regardless, I could have had valuable practice in speaking up for myself and demanding more based on what I know I am worth. The takeaway from this situation is to not only know my worth, but to ask for it (and then add tax). Luckily I’ve made this mistake earlier in my career when the stakes are (seemingly) lower.

The Superwoman Complex

Since I’ve started full time work, I’ve never taken a sick day. Ever. Although I’ve had a number of vacations that have allowed me to rest and travel, but there hasn’t been a single time when I’ve called out sick even though there have been plenty of days when I have felt ill. Once I did some reflecting and soul searching, I realized I had placed this unnecessary pressure on myself to never miss a day because I felt like I couldn’t afford to be behind on a lesson, or let anyone else do my job and teach my students for the day.

Letting go of a superwoman complex is easier said than done, especially as a black woman.

This superwoman complex also manifested itself in a number of other ways. I find myself not calling on other coworkers to ask to for help. Tasks that could easily be completed my students, like wiping down the board or handing out Clorox wipes to clean the desks, I used to do all by myself.

Letting go of a superwoman complex is easier said than done, especially as a black woman that feels like she always has something to prove to the world. As someone who has an ENTJ personality (yes I took it to Myers Briggs testing), I also do everything myself because I’d rather not deal with another person completing the task incorrectly or not as well as I would have. Yet I’ve come to realize that this mindset is not only unfair to coworkers and people genuinely willing to help, but also unfair to myself because it adds more to my to-do list and thus more stress.

Trust me, I understand that overcoming a superwoman complex is a process that takes time. Luckily, I’ve made this mistake at a low stakes point in my career when I don’t have a spouse, children, or extra responsibilities truly draining me any further.

Final Thoughts

I could have added much more to this list but these are pretty big topics and in the spirit of accountability, I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew.Maybe I’ll follow this post up with another one about things that I’ve done right in the workplace. For now, what are some lessons you’ve learned from full time work and are there any mistakes you don’t want to make again? Let me know in the comments!

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor” Ecclesiastes 4:9

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