Career ladders aren’t just reserved for the folks at big corporations; when it comes to our dreams, we all have ladders to climb. Writers, actors, athletes, businesspeople, rocket scientists, whoever you are, whatever your dream, most people begin at the bottom and climb from there. Sometimes the bottom is an internship or a first job, an amateur sporting event or being an understudy. No matter how small or undesirable, these early experiences are so important because, in their own special way, they help us develop skills and prove our worth to others and ourselves. And eventually they begin to multiply and build on themselves until they give us the momentum we need to finally lift ourselves off that bottom rung.
It’s hard to imagine Barbara Walters on the bottom rung of her dream ladder, but as we continue to make our way through her memoir, Audition, it’s no secret that she once was. Not only did Walters start her career at the bottom (working as a secretary at a little ad agency she refers to as “Small and Cheap”), she had to overcome a brutally sexist 1950s workplace in which she was hired on the spot for her first job not because of her education but because her boss thought she had nice legs. But, that “ridiculous caper” helped her get her next job as an assistant to the publicity director at WNBT, which marked the very beginning of her career in television, a career that has spanned decades and reached impossible heights.
Today, Walters’ career success is something many young journalists strive for, however she recounts numerous less-than-desirable jobs and projects she undertook along the way. But no matter how undesirable or grueling, Walters treated every assignment with importance, giving them all her best effort and, bit by bit, she evolved into the force she is today. It’s like Demosthenes said, “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”
Success didn’t happen overnight for Walters, it rarely ever does. But her story is a great reminder not to be discouraged if you’re still trying to find your way off that bottom rung.
What small opportunities have led to great enterprises in your life?
