Jobba Jobba Jobba!! Work Work Work!! This off season I wanted to try out a few seasonal jobs. I have always worked with soccer and I could not be happier but, this offseason I decided to continue coaching as well as take up some new and very different challenges.I coach at least four nights a week, I work part-time at Toys R Us, I work part time at Publix and I am an on call banquet server! On top of that I am training every morning and spending as much time with the ball as I can.
I have completed the orientations for both Publix and Toys R US. During the training of all these companies I have met all sorts of people, and learned many different ways to run a business. It has been extremely interesting and is becoming a very neat experiment.
How do they treat their employee's? What is their business plan? How do they reach their goals? Can I incorporate it into what I want to do in the future? Will I be able to use anything I learn and apply it to my dream of one day opening up my own soccer club? How do people act on a job? Do they love their jobs? Do they want to be the best at what they do? Are they just going through the motions? Why are they there?
During the first Publix orientation the man talking to us gave us an incredible historical insight of what the company is all about. He spoke with so much passion; you could just see that he really loved what he was doing. He loves and talks about Publix like I talk about soccer. It was amazing and refreshing to see someone with such enthusiasm. It was contagious.
Another manager teaching the class talked about theft and how it makes her so mad when people steal because she works hard for her job and that is her well earned money. She went on to say that "she doesn't want to be there but, she has to because she needs the money to survive. " This lady seemed to enjoy what she was doing but not really love it. I could tell she has another passion; maybe it is her family. I don't know but right then I relized how lucky I was. I show up every single day to my job in Sweden, not just because I have to but, because I want to. I am so lucky because number one I have a job and number two I absoutly love what I am doing. I would not want to live life any other way.
This manager went on saying that this company is great because of the job security it offers. If you have a job at Publix you do not have to fear getting laid off or the company shutting down even though the U.S. is facing a horrible financial crisis. I dazed of at this point and thought about the word "fear." My mind brought me back to this past season when our sports psychologist asked me and my team to list our fears. My teammates all answered with different versions of fearing failure; missing a PK, missing a free kick, etc. Not one of the fears stated has ever even entered my brain. There was not one thing said that I was afraid of. The first thing I thought of were things of my past; things nothing to do with soccer. Soccer is my place where I can forget all the horrors. When I play I want to bring about hope; hope in something more, hope in that the people watching will be happy and forget all the horrible things that happen every day, even if it is just for a second. With my job, unlike publix, there is always a since of uncertainty. How are teams financially? Will they be able to afford foreigners? What are the fates of different leagues and teams around the world? It is always a little scary when you do not know exactly what awaits you. Fears, yes I have fears but I am willing to take the risk and face them. What do I have to lose? nothing.
I know that jobs at first may not be as glamours as you have dreamed but you have to start somewhere. One of my best friends told me you can't always start at the top but rather start at the bottem and work your way up. She said, "you can not be the CEO right away." This statement really hit me and it helped me make some very big decisions.
It also made me think of my first job. My club soccerplus offered me a job my junior year in high school. I would go there everyday after school, work and then train. I was just the assistant. I would clean the office, file, set up field, fill water jugs and do whatever they needed me to do. I was the lowest on the totem poll but I did the best I could every single day and I loved it! The people I was around were great and I looked forward to coming into work everyday. I moved up and became a staff coach during the summers. I have done and seen almost every single step it takes to run a club properly. I know what the "little" guy has to do, I am a player and I know what the big bosses have to do. I have done almost everything. Then this past year I started and became the director of the first camp at IFK Gavle. The experience I had at soccerplus helped me run everything properly and smoothly. I learned from the best! One day when I run my own business I will know the importance of each role because I have done everything. Every role has a purpose. I think no matter what you are doing, you should try and be the best at what you do! Wether I am cleaning toilets at my old club or starting the first soccer camp in Gavle Sweden I want to be the best. 
I have this dream, this vision. I know I will do whatever it takes to make it happen. My job is my passion; I am a soccer player. But now my question is what do people do that do not have the same passion for something? What do they do when they are not excited to wake up every morning? What to they do?! What do they live for? A lot of people say that they work because they have to.. They need the money for rent, food, survival.. In this past week alone I noticed a handful of people that just go through the motions; they are not doing this because they want to or because they love it. It seems like a vicious cycle that anyone can easily fall in to; to live you need money, to get money you need a job, you need a job so you can live, but If you are miserable at work and then come home and are still miserable; to me you are not really living. There needs to be a change; a chance to be taken.
When are you the happiest? I found some people simply like interacting with others; some people live for another. It would not matter what they were doing in the world as long as they were able to be with that person or their family. There is no better feeling then knowing you have something great to come home to. I wish that everyone will be able to find their purpose and passion and do what is ever necessary to fill that need. There are always events in my past that always put a smile on my face. If I look back at all the times I felt honestly and truly happy, I found that my happiness is doing what I love around the people I love. What is yours?
