What are ‘aha’ moments<\/strong><\/em>? Are they grand epiphanies reminiscent of those final minutes in almost every episode of House,\u00a0<\/em>where the mysterious symptoms of a patient\u2019s terrible illness coalesce into a diagnosis in Dr. House\u2019s mind in one miraculous moment (bam!). Where he promptly directs the hospital staff to administer a lifesaving drug? Perhaps.<\/p>\n But, it\u2019s also possible that many of life\u2019s ‘aha’ moments<\/em> <\/strong>are more subtle and nuanced.<\/p>\n Late last\u00a0year, I attended Boston HUBweek\u2019s Women in Innovation Story Slam: Aha Moments, <\/em>where I heard inspiring stories from female business leaders on perseverance, ingenuity, and triumph.<\/p>\n Listening to these women share their defining life moments, which spanned college funding hardships and foreign language barriers to\u00a0cold-calling terrors\u00a0and leadership stumbles, I was reminded of some of my own pivotal moments.<\/p>\n My first ‘aha’ moment<\/strong><\/em> happened with I was about fourteen. It was Christmastime and I\u2019d spent the day helping my church group pack winter clothing and non-perishable food for needy families in the area. It was hard work loading what seemed like an endless parade of boxes with two cans of cranberry source, one box of stuffing, 5-pound bags of yams, one tin of gingerbread cookies, and a litany of other holiday treats.<\/p>\n After the last box was filled, I felt good about my efforts. I even started imagining the look of surprise and happiness on peoples\u2019 faces as they were handed one of the boxes I\u2019d help assemble. Who knew, maybe the box I\u2019d packed with extra candy canes would make its way to a family with several young children.<\/p>\n At home later that evening, elbow deep in soapy water and dirty dishes, I heard a knock at the door. Moments later, my younger sister and brother started yelling that someone had left a big box at our door full of food. I froze. It felt like I\u2019d been kicked in the gut. I was so embarrassed; I knew my family was poor, but not that we were considered needy!<\/p>\n Here I was, now 22, sitting on the narrow staircase outside my small one-bedroom apartment trying to process the implications of a slightly crumpled letter hanging from my hand, which\u00a0I\u2019d just re-read for the third time. Try as I might, the words seemed to echo around my brain without end:<\/p>\n What the F?! This was certainly not the way I\u2019d envisioned my military career ending when I\u2019d enlisted two months after 9\/11 – a decision fueled equally by patriotism and the need for college funding. My mind raced with impossible questions: Now what? Would they let me keep my GI Bill? What the heck does lifetime disability mean?<\/p>\n I wanted to crawl back into my apartment and never come out. But, instead, I decided to put myself through a grueling gym workout I\u2019d dubbed power girl –\u00a0<\/em>because it never failed to make me feel strong and empowered once I\u2019d completed it. Somewhere in the middle of my third set, when every fiber of my body screamed for me to stop, the mental panic started to subside.<\/p>\n I was nowhere closer to answering those questions about how to move forward with my life, but I knew that I could once again harness my insatiable drive to overcome the odds and build a better life. That I would overcome my \u201cdisability\u201d and continue to thrive.<\/p>\n Fast forward another 12\u00a0years (past countless hours of rehabilitation, GI Bill sponsored college, MBA graduation, several great jobs, marriage, one child, and a career transition to consulting) to another ‘aha’ moment<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n I was in the market for a new job, and, as a seasoned professional, I was looking for my \u201cdream company.” You know the company I\u2019m talking about – the one that you\u2019re passionate about, that\u2019s unconventional, fun, values hard work, is committed to the community, and strives to promote a work-life balance that make us better professionals and people.<\/p>\n Urban myth, right? I thought so too until I spoke with a national recruiter for Centric. Ten minutes into our conversation I was sure that she was either reading my mind or reading off of a millennial\u2019s dream job checklist:<\/p>\n It was uncanny. Could it possibly all be true? My inner skeptic was screaming: NO! But I decided I had nothing to lose by continuing the interviewing process. And so, here we are.<\/p>\n You\u2019re probably wondering: Was Centric able to live up to the hype? The simple answer is yes. Is it perfect? No. Companies, like people, have flaws – tiny or not-so-tiny imperfections, which cause frustration at times. Where Centric distinguishes itself from other companies I\u2019ve worked for is the focus on creating unmatched experiences for employees and clients alike. And isn\u2019t that something we all strive for? A life filled with unmatched and exceptional experiences.<\/p>\n Dream companies and jobs, while probably never perfect, do exist.<\/p>\n As you\u2019ve seen from my life, ‘aha’ moments<\/strong><\/em>, come in all shapes and sizes: from gut-wrenching realizations to quiet moments when you realize that you don\u2019t have all the answers, but decide to press on anyway. Collectively, these moments define us, for good or bad.<\/p>\n As for me, I wouldn\u2019t trade a single one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aha moments come in all shapes and sizes: from gut-wrenching realizations to quiet moments. Collectively, these moments define us, for good or bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":13406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[15012],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-07-22 02:39:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13405"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}My First ‘Aha’ Moment<\/em><\/h2>\n
Eight Years Later<\/h2>\n
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Another ‘Aha’ Moment<\/em><\/h2>\n
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‘Aha’ Moment<\/em> Number Three<\/h2>\n