You’ve spent all day, quite possibly the entire month—minute by minute second after second busting tail on a project, hobby or revamping the identity and in the end the only thing worth holding is a continuing broken heart attached to a dream only you see.
Wow! Sounds like a country song! The only thing missing is spilled warm beer on the bar and peanut shells caught between your teeth and there's not a soul in the building that has dental floss to rid your body of such entrapment.
I swear this is the reason why Mom always said, “Life begins at 40.”
Somewhere within the blizzards we generate sleeps a single line…within its power rests the shields, swords and light sabers that were supposed to be available during your wild twenties, catch back up thirties and now nearly to almost focused forties, fifties and sixties headed straight for a horizon that resembles a fall harvest moon but once there it’ll take on the shape of your worst boss.
And that’s when you’ll gently say, “I am me and this is my journey.”
Why does it take so long to sell a great concept? Brilliant ideas enter your mind at the most unexpected time and each of them requires support from areas off your life that can’t seem to tell the difference between your big ears and those belonging to the Easter Bunny. It’s the old, “So you want chocolate? What’s in it for me?”
Getting support for an idea or a project well done is like scoring a multi million dollar victory on Power Ball—feeling disappointed about your life, career and all things connected has become your everyday. Toss in a down economy, a national health care vote that nobody understands, your sister in laws second hip replacement surgery, your dear friend’s knee operation, strep throat, swine flu and there’s never any time left for you.
My weakness is staring into the eyes of a passerby. Picasso, Rembrandt, Matisse, Peter Max…they’ll tell you, “Artists feel first.”
Julia Cameron grabs that statement by the nape of the neck and screams, “We’re all artists!”
Therefore that gives you the legal rights to feel…and being numb is a feeling. Its that color in a box of Crayons that sits by itself hoping you’ll break your favorite piece so it can have a fighting chance to make a mark on a single white page once belonging to the soul of a tree.
Is it wrong to take what you feel and give it a heave ho toward an avenue that might challenge your boss, coworker, spouse or neighbor?
Into the thoughts of Dr. Gary Ranker I shoot—a master of maintaining integrity. In his book Political Dilemmas at Work he explains, “Agendas change and inside the gaps created during change expected by each player is support… Assumption spells out the reasons why decisions seem to be present but performance comes in a distant last. It’s how you reflect on that method of thought that ignites a different agenda which has nothing to do with the original getting accomplished. So you elect to take on the bigger name.”
The first rule we tend to set aside is truly thinking about what’s being asked of you. I remember my radio mentor Andrew Ashwood slamming into my thick ego driven head, “Radio is change. Change is everyday. If you can’t handle change there’s the door. Leave now or I’ll be forced to make a change.”
Instead of fighting the system by reacting too quickly—whip out the adult in you and analyze the evidence that contradicts the agenda. Being a fire starter doesn’t make you a quality leader. I know this first hand, I was born with a Montana mouth that shoots off like Wild Bill Cody and Calamity Jane doing a horse and pony show in Red Lodge—a radio station landed my show on the overnights because I unprofessionally overreacted to them opening the door to host a weekly countdown not needed in my already busy life.
Change came…there was a gap and I elected to fill it with uneducated noise. I paid the price.
Change is everywhere in American big and small businesses. I’m convinced Andrew Ashwood was onto something when he blurted, “Change is everyday. If you can’t handle change there’s the door. Leave now or I’ll be forced to make a change.”
Dr. Ranker invites you to locate others to discuss the situation with—it’ll increase your knowledge and fill the empty gaps with a better understanding of the situation. By the time you reach the horizon the real agenda has reappeared leaving plenty of room for you to introduce ideas you learned a long the way.
We’re currently locked in an age of American history where what you know and who you know no longer carries weight. How you accept change on an hourly basis builds bridges toward newer shapes of success. It doesn’t mean you’re selling out or brown nosing the upper levels of management.
Being part of a team requires Beatle-ology. Four very different guys who created harmony that’s lasted nearly sixty years. John Lennon wasted no time telling reporters that he’d write a tune expecting Paul McCartney to disagree with him—it opened the door for each of their personal endeavors to succeed, which made every piece of music stronger.
From the outside, sitting in those hard seats at the coliseum Michael Jordon gave this country one thing—the vision of needing nobody else on the court except you. I want to believe that inside his head and heart he tells himself everyday, “I couldn’t have become the greatest of all time without Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Phil Jackson.”
Go into your day knowing there’ll be no support. Expect there to be tremendous amounts of change. Be prepared for infiltrations of nonbelievers to singe your thought process nearly wiping out anything and everything positive. You as a person are under attack and it’s your job to step up and be the leader…bring your song idea to the table while extending your open palm to the thought of there being harmony.
Never forget the modern golden rule: If your boss is driving you totally insane…his or her job is on the line too. What you’re creating is noise on an already overcrowded freeway of love. Two things might happen...you'll get home safely or you're going to wreck the car. How do we attain the freedom to hold the first one?
We are the survival generation: you’re either the star or the next one kicked off the reality television show. Do you pull off a Sharon Osbourne and quiet Cindy Lauper down or do you quit like Daryl Strawberry? Watching The Celebrity Apprentice is a valuable tool in making work into better play.
It's ok to hate your job...just don't get caught doing it.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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