A realization has slowly been creeping up on me over the past week. I felt it slinking up my leg, over my belly button, up my chest, and now it just landed squarely in my brain tonight.

I have begun... a career.

Which is different than having a job.

A career is something you have to foster.

When you have a career you have to be nice to people you don't like.

When you have a career your behavior has impact on things that happen months or even years down the road.

When you have a career you can't afford to ask stupid questions, because you will get a reputation as that guy who asks stupid questions.

You have to think about professional development goals, and networking, and leaving a good impression, and asset-building.

You think about 401Ks, performance incentives, micromanaging, synergy, lateral moves, reclassification.

You jot down quotes from Dale Carnegie and Ted Turner and Suze Orman in the margins of your legal pad.

You attend conferences about replacing negativity in the workplace with enTHUsiasm!! (as I just did on Wednesday)

You volunteer to take meeting minutes just so that you serve an important role in the meeting, especially if you know you won't have anything to say. You look at your Palm Pilot immediately after you step out of the shower in the morning so you can decide exactly how formal you need to dress, who you will need to impress that day, where you will be able to clip your employee name tag.

So yeah. I am fostering my career.