Adrift on a sea of possibilities
I said to my parents once that if I won the lottery I would quit work and become a professional student and attend University. Talking to Rosa Say over on Talking Story about learning she talked about her love of learning and how that had led to the creation of her community “Joyful Jubilant Learning.” The conversation went on to possibilities of a future book she may be writing or starting… not sure if it’s a follow up to her Managing With Aloha or if it will be something different or along the same vein but for a different audience yet… it’s still too soon to tell.
The excitement is palpable though and the possibilities whip about like leaves in a gale.
Here’s the thing… what am I doing? Why do I not have that level of excitement and possibilities for myself and for what I’m doing? That seems like I’m doing something wrong here. Where’s my passion for what I’m doing? (Other than running and that’s sort of stalled right now because a) I’m ill and b) the treadmill that I have access to is nick-named “shin-killer.”)
So… my goal between now and Valentine’s Day is to find something I’m passionate about and start it. (Other than running… my next race is soon… 2/16/2010 (Fat Tuesday! WOOT!) I’ll keep you posted.
It may be online classes. I’ve thought about that recently and decided it may be a great option for someone who travels as much as I do.
It may be a sports car and a girlfriend half my age… OK. That’s not actually very likely come to think of it.
So… no pressure… what am I going to do with myself that I’m as excited about as I am about what other people are doing? Seems like I’m wasting the only life I have if I’m not excited about my own life as often as possible.
The Adrift on a sea of possibilities by Rich Griffith, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
February 8th, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Aloha Rich,
This doesn’t surprise me all that much, and don’t for even a fleeting second think it has anything to do with your character, or your motivations and desire for learning: It’s because from what I have come to know about you, you’re a very good manager, one with a calling for Alaka‘i managing and leading. And managers like you cannot manage without going “all in” or not at all.
Maybe that’s what I need to be exploring and writing a bit more about, be it blog post, white paper, or book: How can we manage well, in the Aloha and Alaka‘i way, without it taking so much from us, at the expense of so much?
I have no regrets about how this played out in my own life, for I feel regret is a rather worthless emotion to carry along with you for too long once it gets you to self-correct; I’ve been successful in discarding any regret I may have felt for some reason. Yet truth is, I gave more than thirty years to that “all in” managing where I worked on developing my people (helping them work on THEIR goals) and on fostering my employer’s company visions (helping them work on THEIR strategic objectives) without working on any of my own until I became self employed and allowed myself the luxury of that choice.
I call myself the managers’ advocate, and I am torn when I meet a manager like you. Because of the dreams I have for the workplace, I want managers with the Alaka‘i and Aloha calling for the profession to be managers forever. I want it to be good enough for them. Yet when I think about that manager individually, I do hope the day comes that they get out, consider their managing time fulfilling but done, and that they start to work for themselves.
My humbly offered advice for you, for whatever it may be worth, is that if you have not begun to work on a succession plan that will help you leave the company you are at when the right day presents itself, have that be your next goal, knowing it is truly a win-win for you and for your boss and/or company owner.
.-= Rosa Say´s last blog ..The Care and Feeding of your Talking Story Subscription =-.
February 8th, 2010 at 10:01 PM
I’m not feeling regret right now. I really do think I’m doing good here at work and while it’s not the job I love right now or a job I think I’m great at (I think I’m good at it but not great… I think I’m missing the spark to be great… grading on a curve I’m great lol) I get to work with people who have the job I loved.
It’s funny. My boss loves my job and believes he was great at it (I agree) and I love the manager job and think I was great at it. We both want to go down one level for two reasons… we both feel like we were better at our previous jobs and we both enjoyed our previous jobs more. It’s my belief the company would be better off letting us both drop down a notch… both of us would do it too… but I’m not sure how the company would consider such a thing… but I’m 80% sure they’d rather see me go than see me go down a notch.
I’m not sure how I’d do with working for myself… I love managing… I made the mistake of promoting higher than my comfort zone… not something you can know until you do it and finding a way back down gracefully is going to involve a letter to the owner at some point in the future… when it’s that or quit and go somewhere else. I’m not there yet.
I’m just looking into finding something, work related, hobby related, or service related that I’m passionate about. I’ve been thinking about something service related since last Thanksgiving. I think volunteer work will be in my future. I’m certainly feeling a calling for it on some level, more than just monetary donations.
I’m going to pencil in some time to brainstorm ideas, sling them on the wall and see what sticks sort of thing. It may mean a series of attempts that work or don’t, but they should generate blog-fodder right? It’ll be exciting. Someone once said the difference between a rut and a grave were the dimensions and I’ve been in a rut. I need to fix that. And, I’m going to.
.-= Rich G.´s last blog ..Adrift on a sea of possibilities =-.
February 8th, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Agree that self-employment isn’t for everyone Rich, and there are quite a few possibilities besides managing and self-employment. You make a good point about comfort zones, in that managing also comes in a rainbow of flavors.
Sounds to me like you are packing your lessons-learned well, and aren’t really “adrift” as much as ready for smoother sailing in a brisk headwind.
I’ll keep reading to follow your story and encourage you along the way
.-= Rosa Say´s last blog ..The Care and Feeding of your Talking Story Subscription =-.