Three Early Career Lessons From Legends of The Hidden Temple

How Young Pros Can Piece Together Their Own “Shrine of the Silver Monkey?”

The first few years after graduating from college can be a daunting time for anyone. It’s a time of defining (sometimes scary) life decisions. Job searching, navigating that all important first job, and maybe moving to a new city and finding new friends. Each of us handles this unsettling time a little differently.

I often found myself taking comfort in reliving some good old 90s nostalgia. Some of my most vivid memories were sitting on the couch every Saturday afternoon glued to the Nickelodeon game show,“Legends of the Hidden Temple.” Besides figuring out whether the Purple Parrots or the Silver Snakes would win, the only other thing I had to think about was whether or not my mom would pack a special treat in my school lunch.

Looking back, this game show wasn’t just about the coolest middle school aged kids winning prizes by competing in various physical and mental tasks in Olmec’s temple. There are actually some great life and career lessons hidden in there.

If you think about it, Kirk Fogg, the game show host, was like our first mentor. He provided the contestants with tips, gave inspirational pep talks and explained the intricacies of make-belief tribal folklore.

The Importance Of Being A Team Player
The first challenge was always having to get your team (boy-girl pairing) across a moat. To be successful, you needed to work well with your partner and not be overweight. (Spoiler alert: The token fat kid on each episode never got across the moat in time to advance to the next round. Blatant discrimination, you decide?)

Being a team player is also critical for success in your first job out of college. You need to know when to collaborate, listen and simply get shit done.

The challenges continued until only one team was left. The top team was then given the chance to enter the temple run (Not to be confused with a now overrated and way less cool smartphone game.)

In the temple run inside Olmec’s temple, the top team had to find the way through a series of obstacles and challenges to the room of the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. They had to put together the Silver Monkey shrine to unlock all the doors inside the temple and claim their prizes. Now, the puzzle was just three pieces: A head, body and feet. It wasn’t that hard, but yet most of the contestants couldn’t figure it out within the time constraints.

How To Deal With Adversity
If you really think about it, everyone of us will face our own “Silver Monkeys” in the beginning of our careers. Whether it’s just finding that elusive first job, learning how to work best with your boss or simply how to earn your colleagues’ respect. Whatever your obstacles and challenges are, it’s those that can persevere and solve the puzzles in front of them that will be successful.

How To Earn Respect
All of these challenges culminated to the “big prizes” that Kirk dangled in front of the contestants of the game show. Whether it was a sweet pair of gravity-defying, ankle-breaking “moon shoes,” a boombox complete with dual cassette decks, an Encarta CD-ROM, and of course the glorious expense-paid trip to Space Camp. Seriously, going to Space Camp was like the ultimate status symbol for a 90s kid, like myself, and instantly made you the coolest kid in your grade.

While unfortunately we are a little too old to go to Space Camp now, our version of the “ultimate prize” is getting that first promotion. There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing all the hard work and challenges that you battled through didn’t go completely unnoticed.

The key to being successful early on in your career is to get better at piecing together and solving your own “Silver Monkeys” in front of you.

Did you really think I would get through the entire post without linking a Legends of the Hidden Temple clip? Here’s an awesome montage of the contestants inability to put together the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Seriously, it’s three pieces.

This post was originally written on Medium.

Jessica Malnik works with B2B SaaS and professional service firms to build marketing moat that compound over time using her signature content framework. As both a strategist and executor, she helps clients develop strategic content marketing roadmaps, scale content production, and provide guidance on campaigns and individual pieces.
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