Someone who is quite close to me was venting about wanting a new job. Another place to set his lunch bucket is what he said in the email, I believe. The reason for leaving would be a moral issue. The chuckleheads he works for do things that are just not fair. If someone has to leave a job because the people around them are buffoons who do immoral things then so be it. Although in this case the employer is probably more amoral than immoral due to their being oblivious about how the choices they make effect those around them. I digress. I would not fault anyone for leaving due to those reasons. The thing that got me thinking was leaving a job that puts food on your table and covers your insurance etc... Yes, it's not the end of the world and most people would find a new job while working the current crappy one. That was the synaptic jumping off point for me, as it were. I started to draft a response. I was thinking about some of the blog posts I've read about believing in yourself, working your butt off, and learning your craft to be the successful (insert vocation here) that you can be. This person is quite talented at a couple of things. The thing he gets paid to do that he might consider leaving, and at least one other thing. The other thing, in my mind, is what I was going to recommend he work on. I then started to list the things he should do. If I were you I would... I stopped. I realized that all the things I was going to suggest are things I need to do. Work on getting a nice space to work in, clean up the clutter. Focus on the things you really want to do. In your free time hone your craft, keep working on it, then when you quit you'll have those marketable skills to be able to put food on the table and pay the insurance premiums. Hopefully. This guy I am talking about doesn't need to hear that. He damn sure doesn't need to hear it from me. I was basically giving myself advice. I'm glad I had the presence of mind to realize this before I hit send. It's kind of funny actually.
I ran a cross an old blog post today (yeah, I read a lot of blogs) about the two things it takes to be successful. Be undeniably good, and dedicate 10,000hrs to your craft. There you have it. Two simple things. Well, easier said than done of course, but this is exactly the type of thing I was trying to explain to the person in the email. An epiphany of sorts, I suppose. I have the answer I just need to keep pushing the rock up the hill. Ten thousand hours is a lot of time but if I had started ten years ago where would I be now? Perhaps, I'd be undeniably good. Every day I find a new little bit of wisdom that helps make the future seem a bit more workable for me. Of course every other day I think I should just live in a box behind Wal-Mart and huff gold paint. That's just the rock rolling down the hill. Time to start pushing again.
1 comment:
Well said.
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