workin' 9 to 5...

i have just finished reading a couple of books. technically i tore through them. you know the book that you just can't put down, that you just can't seem to read fast enough? 'reach for the summitt' and 'raise the roof', where two such books for me. they are the story of legendary lady vols basketball coach, pat summitt and her experiences with a couple of her teams.

there are many lessons you could take away from her books. basically things you could do, within your own life, which could guarantee you more favourable results. beyond that you could read how she had to grow as a coach, in order to learn how best to guide the different personalities that came to her each year.

there were a couple of messages that were prevalent in the books that i found a little unusual. unusual but brilliant. the first thing that really shook me, was that failing was actually a good thing. i am terrified of failure, even the times that i hang my sh!t out there, i do so in a very controlled or safe manner.

pat summitt suggests that by failing we learn how to succeed. she also said that failure teaches you what kind of person you are, the truly successful will suffer their failure. he or she will move heaven and earth to recover from it and hopefully have a more positive experience the next time.

the other interesting message for me, was that everybody has a role to play. that we can't all be the 'star player'. some of us have to come off the bench and do the best we can while we are in the game.

that really struck a chord with me. i am a contract, computer production artist and in my current position i am part of a team working on producing flyers. flyers that appear in newspapers weekly all across canada. my part of the process is to do the changes to the files that other people have created. i do not design the flyer, i do not make the flyer pages and i do not subsequently create the variations of said pages that are delivered to different regions of the country. all that is done by other members of the team.

i recently mentioned to my parents my exact role in the process and they were both pretty disappointed. it was as though, the fact that i was not a major player in the process, or the 'star player' makes me a failure.

the reality is, as 'un-sexy' as my role is, it is necessary one. while i am cleaning up the mistakes or making the minor revisions the client requires, others are moving forward and building the pages for future flyers. since the client supplies us with very little turn-around time, what i do is still of value.

i earn an honest living. i do the best job i can and the reality is there is no shame it what i do. i am not the 'star player', i come off the bench... but i still contribute to the team and in the end we all win.