I gave up success for Lent this year. And because I'm not that successful to begin with, what I actually gave up was ambition. But that's not necessarily true as well because I'm not very ambitious. I guess what I gave up was hope that I will every really be "successful".
What I came to realize over my Lenten experience was that if you have to think about what success is....you're not successful. Think about it, successful people don't go around wondering if they're a success. It's the people that are on the border or below the border of success that contemplate on their accomplishments...and that's because they are wondering out loud to themselves if they've been a success.
Successful people are just doing what they are supposed to be doing and then all of sudden, BAM- someone else tells them they're a success.
If you go looking for success, you'll end up sucked into a Black Hole..
A black hole is defined as a region of spacetime from which gravity prevents anything, including light, from escaping. I think what the means is, if you get sucked in- everything goes dark. If you go looking for success- everything goes dark.
Most of us don't start our climb to be successful until we graduate college. Life up until college is pretty easy. If you just play in your AYSO soccer game, your dad will be proud of you. Make an art project in school and your mom will love it. Most of the time, if you just show up to school and do a minimal amount of work, you can at least get a B. If you're a person who can hold a basic conversation, most likely you'll have at least a few friends. Add it up: you're parents applaud your effort; you're grades say you are better than average; you have a few people you can call on the weekend (friends).
Careers(post college) on the other hand, are a little more tricky. You need luck, determination, timing.
Here's the worst part...careers should be just one phase of our lives, but when we judge whether we are successful or not, we are mostly answering from the career aspect of our lives.
I am kind of(scratch that - I am mostly) a hack radio broadcaster. I've never had a major job. Lot's of jobs as a bit player (traffic broadcaster in Sacramento/Sports reporter in Santa Rosa/ Religious show host in Fremont). I fully believe in my ability. My theory is that I have never been given a big break.
I have a part time Saturday morning job right now on a somewhat big radio station. It has been one of my favorite jobs ever. The reason is that when they gave me the job, they just said, "GO FOR IT". The person training me said, "just be yourself and do what you want". The other part that's been awesome about the job is that I am completely left alone.
As a blessing and a curse about this job, no one says anything about the work I do. A manager has never sent me an email. I've never had a review. Co-workers mostly say nothing. I've never had one listener give feedback, good or bad! My wife rarely listens. Not one friend as ever tuned in.
It's as if the work I do each week gets sucked into a Black Hole, never to be heard from again. So its a great job because nobody tells me what to do, but on the flipside...there is absolutely no feedback.
I come home jazzed each week after the show because I know I killed it. I go back and listen to the aircheck and it only underscores that I killed it. However, if a tree falls in the forest but nobody sees it--did it really fall.
It's the best job I have ever had. It's the smartest/wittiest/most enlightened I have ever been in my career. It pays me the most money I have ever made. It's the biggest radio station I have ever worked on.
But guess what....NO BODY CARES. So, am I successful?
To be continued......
