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Unspoken Benefits: Three Life Lessons from Nine Years at Google
How applying lessons from work into my personal life proved to be the most valuable Google perk of all.
Throughout my nearly nine years working out of Google offices, I’ve noticed that the line separating Googler from self can be pretty thin sometimes. There’s good reason for this. Google has a famously high hiring bar, the people who work there are deeply passionate about their work, and Googlers really do want to make the world a better place.
A job at Google doesn’t always feel like just a job — it feels like an identity. Personally, I can’t help but take workplace lessons home with me. The longer I’ve worked here, the more I’ve noticed that lessons from work keep cropping up in my personal life, helping me to solve problems faster, be a better friend, and confront opportunities with a better mindset.
When I think about the benefits Google offers, sure, the food and product discounts are great, but the work lessons I’ve been able to apply to my personal life are truly the greatest benefit of all. And yet, that’s not a selling point in the proverbial pamphlet, so I decided to write about it.
I started at Google as a contractor on Google+. Remember that? From there I got a full time gig on the same team, tested my technical knowledge on Family Link, started the Internal Community Management Team to launch internal content moderation, and now lead a portfolio of tools that help Googlers connect with each other and leadership called ‘Culture Technology’. I’ve been all over the place, and it’s been eye-opening.
Your value as a person doesn’t depend on your career success, but I also believe that completely separating work and personal life isn’t fulfilling. At the same time, I recognize my privilege doing work I love at a company that let me forge my own path which makes less separation more fun. For me, I’ve been lucky that my professional growth has also been deeply personal. I’ve learned so much about myself because I apply the lessons I learn at work to my life outside of it.
The three lessons I want to share with you are:
- Do the next right thing
- Find confidence in not…
