I was thinking about some of my past endeavors this morning. I don’t generally like to live in the past except to learn from it but I’ll admit that I am prone to revisiting it from time to time and wondering how things may have been different with different choices.
For the two endeavors I specifically was thinking about I came upon the thread – always do things for right reasons. If you are doing things for accolades or money you will inevitably be disappointed.
By way of examples:
- I hosted a music based podcast for 9 years that really tried to highlight and support local and independent music. I believed in what I was doing even though it was a lot of work with little return. I got very little feedback and support especially from the majority of musicians I was promoting. When I abruptly stopped doing the show because of personal issues I think maybe one or two people asked about it. I actually had someone years later ask how the show was going which showed they never actually listened consistently. If I was doing it for the notoriety I would have been miserable.
- I worked for the same company for just over 27 years. During that time I worked in several positions and gave everything I had to make sure that I did the best possible work. I built teams from scratch, created processes that others couldn’t and solved problems that inefficiencies created. What I received in return was 2 promotions in that time and then unceremoniously let go.
I can still lay my head on my pillow every night knowing that the things I did were all done for the right reasons. I can’t say that about everything I’ve done in my life. I now know that this is how I want to lead my life every day though. It’s difficult though. Obviously I want these words to go out and be read by people and hopefully liked and acknowledged but it’s not why I’m writing them.
These words are really for me so I can get them out of my head and remind myself to always do things for the right reason.
A History of Stupidity 