I’ve never been big on vacations. I’ve always been a “worker bee” – career minded, don’t take time off because it’s too much hassle and who could relax wondering who is doing what at the station back home?!
Now? I feel a little more entitled to my recharge and reset time. I am a little less apt to take on more stress than my role warrants. I spent a few years lately questioning my own work ethic. But it has nothing to do with work ethic. It has to do with loving yourself – loving Who you are more than you love what you do.
As my family checks out of reality for the next few days, leaving the country’s problems and the cold weather for sand, sun, and fun on a cruise to the Bahamas, I finally feel at ease and able to relax. Is it my age – or is it my perspective?
In radio, I worked with a man who sort of inspired this mentality within me, though it took everything I went through with my daughter to really kick it into high gear. Yes, I worked with and for some good people through my life (and some pretty crappy), but it is also safe to say that I feel like I put in a lot more in most cases than I got back. Not a negative remark. You go in to serve a purpose and do a job. I know in radio, I’m not so sure many of those for whom I worked put ME over what I brought to the table. In that, in the end, I was disposable and me working through vacations or cutting them short or working while I was on vacation didn’t mean anything. I was still grossly underpaid, underappreciated, and in the cases where I didn’t quit, cut loose. Again…this isn’t a negative remark against anyone. This is just to say that it doesn’t really matter in the end. If you don’t take care of YOU…nobody will. And, this man I worked with laid the groundwork for that. He had talent. A track record. Ability to do more than he was. And when opportunities arose, he didn’t so much shy away from them as he did just not express any interest in stepping up. Granted, he was one of my best employees and did his job incredibly well. I would work with him again in a heartbeat. He stepped up when called upon, but never seemed interested in moving up the ladder. For Young Josh, he didn’t see how on Earth someone wouldn’t jump at the chance to do MORE. I asked him one day about this and he just smiled that warm, gentle smile, patted me on the shoulder and said in his low, booming voice, “I was you once. I’m not there anymore. I’m past that point in life. I don’t want to manage anybody. I don’t want to be the boss. I just want to do my job and do it well. None of that other stuff does it for me anymore.”
That didn’t make sense to me until years later after changing careers and then starting my own business. I get it now. I understand. My life of chasing more responsibilities and obligations, that benefit others while costing me, is over. I’m at a point of building MY business – MY brand – MY way – on MY time. That isn’t about work ethic, drive, or motivation. It is quite simply about self-preservation and a change in perspective – about a change in what I value.
What do you value? What is your perspective on this?