An epiphany of sorts.
Yesterday I was chatting with a wonderful lady I know. She worked for a few months at one of my clients, and I got to know her a bit. She got terminated there a couple weeks ago - fortunately for her I say - and I've been looking around to see if anyone could utilize her help.
I saw she was up on chat and started a conversation. At some point we turned to one subject I find myself talking a lot about - the decision to leave my corporate career a few years ago. When I left it was viewed in my immediate vicinity as an insane decision, and rightly so; I had a prominent and visible position in a well-respected public company, and I left in the middle of 2002, which, you will recall, was not a good time to be looking for another job. It's certainly been an interesting ride since then.
Anyhow, that's besides the point.
So during the conversation I was trying to find a way to express the path I have walked since then; the combination of necessity (no other option but striking it out on my own after realizing jobs were not "always there for the good ones"), ingenuity (had to come up with multiples ways to survive), the need to learn quickly and effectively what works and what doesn't, and the resulting personal growth, which was - and still is - tremendous. As part of our chat, I came up with this "formula":
Freedom + Hunger = Growth
I didn't think much of it when I wrote it, but then the lady took a long pause before her next reply, which was a bit odd as she is generally very fast in response. It got me thinking and I thought it was kind of a neat suggestion. I thought I'd share it with you too. If you're free to do anything you want (by choice or necessity), but must find ways to flourish (or you will go hungry), then there is simply no way to avoid personal growth.
Yeah, I can see the hole in the argument; it assumes that you do, in fact, succeed in eventually surmounting the challenges ahead. But isn't that the assumption we should all make? I mean, we have to presume we will succeed in our ventures, for otherwise we will be frozen into inactivity.
Oh well, for whatever it's worth, there it is. Sure works for me.
I saw she was up on chat and started a conversation. At some point we turned to one subject I find myself talking a lot about - the decision to leave my corporate career a few years ago. When I left it was viewed in my immediate vicinity as an insane decision, and rightly so; I had a prominent and visible position in a well-respected public company, and I left in the middle of 2002, which, you will recall, was not a good time to be looking for another job. It's certainly been an interesting ride since then.
Anyhow, that's besides the point.
So during the conversation I was trying to find a way to express the path I have walked since then; the combination of necessity (no other option but striking it out on my own after realizing jobs were not "always there for the good ones"), ingenuity (had to come up with multiples ways to survive), the need to learn quickly and effectively what works and what doesn't, and the resulting personal growth, which was - and still is - tremendous. As part of our chat, I came up with this "formula":
Freedom + Hunger = Growth
I didn't think much of it when I wrote it, but then the lady took a long pause before her next reply, which was a bit odd as she is generally very fast in response. It got me thinking and I thought it was kind of a neat suggestion. I thought I'd share it with you too. If you're free to do anything you want (by choice or necessity), but must find ways to flourish (or you will go hungry), then there is simply no way to avoid personal growth.
Yeah, I can see the hole in the argument; it assumes that you do, in fact, succeed in eventually surmounting the challenges ahead. But isn't that the assumption we should all make? I mean, we have to presume we will succeed in our ventures, for otherwise we will be frozen into inactivity.
Oh well, for whatever it's worth, there it is. Sure works for me.
posted by Blinkered at 12:09 PM
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