Yesterday I was at a celebration of life for a member of the local podcast community who passed away unexpectedly two weeks ago today. There was a story told that many years ago he was offered the opportunity to go out on the road to do video for a boy band throughout their tour. He passed on it although I’m not clear if he didn’t believe in them or thought the opportunity would come around again. Well, there was no second chance and that group was NSYNC.
He must’ve learned his lesson because more than one person at yesterday’s service talked of how our departed friend was always pushing people to go for their dreams now.
Ironically, I’ve learned over the years that when you see something you want to buy, you’re really best off to just grab it then. A lot of times you’re not given a second chance and/or when you go looking for it again, it’s gone. That could range from that item in the souvenir store when you were on vacation to an airfare online or even a t-shirt in the team store at the arena.
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Bigger picture, though, is what you’re passing on today because you think you’ll get back to it another day – until another day never comes.
I know that sounds far-fetched or perhaps even borderline morbid but consider that I know five different people that currently have cancer. Do you think there’s a little bit more urgency to their plans these days? Obviously, there are a lot of prayers being offered that hopefully they’ll come through and there can be a collective exhale. However, you just know that their current experience is giving them a completely different outlook on things than before.
So, why can’t we all learn from this and hit the reset button on our perspective too?
Two weeks from tomorrow I head out of town for a 16-day business trip covering three cities. The last of those stops is Las Vegas, where I’ll not only attend the NAB Show but am speaking at the Las Vegas Writers Conference. It’s easy to see, “What’s the soonest I can get myself back home,” when you are on a trip of that length. But I would encourage you to take a step back and say, “Can I build in just a little time to relax and enjoy where I get to travel to?”
Keep in mind that this is all coming from someone who is a workaholic. I find that a lot of people see all the traveling that I do and think, “Psshh, must be nice.” What they don’t see is the time I spend in my hotel room working, to make up for the time “lost” by being at a conference.
Nonetheless, I’ve still had to push myself to say, “The world isn’t going to end if you go out to see some live music while you’re in Nashville.” I haven’t perfected the “loosen up” approach yet, always thinking about the work that needs to be done, but I’m much more open to the concept these days.
I’m thinking of Bill Murray in “Scrooged” and the ghost of Christmas past showing his character what he was doing (working) at a time when he should’ve been doing something else (celebrating the holidays).
I also have “If Tomorrow Never Comes” in my head. It’s a Garth Brooks song that Barry Manilow later re-did.
When you’re the one running the business, you quickly (and often) tell yourself, “As soon as I do something relaxing when I could/should be working, that’s when I’m going to miss (out on) something.” When has that ever been breaking news? Tell me the last time you saw a media report about a huge opportunity for a business that was directly tied to the competition sitting in an arena watching a National Hockey League game. Exactly.
Re-think the “must be nice” mindset. When you see someone going on a pleasure trip, don’t think about their having been able to afford it (and by the way, how do you know they can and that it’s not that they’re pushing the limits of their credit card?) but instead consider that they made the conscious decision to give themselves a break from the professional world for that amount of time.
Maybe I’ll see you in Vegas – at a show, not at the conference.
For more than twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.