My grandfather, Harry Exler (also known as “Poppop") is one of my biggest inspirations. I count my blessings every day knowing how lucky I am to have him in my life at my age and every opportunity I get to learn from him is a great one. Throughout my entire life, especially once I entered college and into the workforce, my routine conversations with my grandfather always seemed to include an opportunity to learn at every moment. I can’t pinpoint exactly when, but the phrase “peaks & valleys” became a common topic that we discussed.

When I graduated college I started my professional career as an Inside Sales Representative with the Columbus Blue Jackets. My entire life I wanted to work in sports. That was the goal. I went to Ohio University and majored in Sport Management looking to fulfill a dream and when I was offered my job with the Blue Jackets directly out of college, I thought I had reached the peak I always wanted. I loved working in the National Hockey League. I had a great boss and amazing colleagues. The novelty of working out of the gorgeous Nationwide Arena never wore off. Statistically, I was very successful in my role. I surpassed my yearly sales goal in my first 7 months, I assisted in bringing the first ever “Jewish Heritage Night” to the Blue Jackets and I took every opportunity I could to work with other departments with my favorite being the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation. It sounds like everything was great, right? Yes, it was very good but at some point things mentally just did not seem to “click” for me. After a few months the novelty started to fade and I felt like I was just going through the motions. I had a few conversations with friends, family and my supervisor and made the decision to leave my role and pursue other opportunities in the non-profit world. This was the first time where I felt a bit lost. I’ll never forget my conversation with my grandfather as I sat in the seats of Nationwide Arena watching a morning skate.

“Andy, life is all about peaks & valleys. Some days and moments are going to be great and you’ll be at the top, other days you’ll find yourself needing to climb to get yourself where you need to be. It’s all about keeping your composure and moving forward no matter what stage you’re in.”

As many people can likely relate, you are sometimes taught to feel that you NEED to have the perfect job out of college and essentially have the rest of your life planned out beginning the moment you walk across that stage to receive your diploma. I’ll tell you right now, that is FAR from the truth.

I was working in professional sports in a great city yet I still wasn’t happy. I wondered if I was ruining my career by leaving my first job in less than a year. Society these days pushes “norms” that tell you that you must stay in a role for a certain amount of time and if you don’t then you essentially are killing your resume. I’d confidently bet a handful of you who are reading this post can relate. Some of you may be in a job you dislike but are nervous to leave and take a big step towards finding where you fit in the professional world. For me, I learned that it was OK to take a risk to find a balance of being happy AND enjoying the work I was doing. I’m now happier than I have ever been and I love my job. I never thought I’d be able to say that phrase and genuinely mean it but I LOVE MY JOB. It took me a while to get here and it is perfectly ok for it to take some time. I graduated college in 2013 and it took me until late 2019 to really find my place.

So what does “peaks & valleys” really mean? We might have a different way to define it but to me, peaks & valleys is being able to recognize where you are at any given point. Are you at the top, crushing goals? Are you in a valley figuring out your next step or are you just simply unsure of where you are in general? It is ok to be lost. It is ok for there to be an unknown. What is not ok is being lost with no motivation to move forward.

Life is hard & scary sometimes, but you should never feel like you are in such a valley that you can’t get yourself back to the top. There is always a way up, you just have to get yourself there. As someone who has been there before, I would be happy to (confidentially) talk to you to help you assess your current stage and get you moving forward. Contact me on my website, email me at andrew@andrewexler.com or send me a DM and I WILL RESPOND. That is a promise.

- Andrew

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