Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Reasonable Guy 2: Don't Worry



                I’ve just had one of my recurrent moments of clarity.
                The world would be just fine if there was absolutely no one doing my job. Sometimes that’s a hard pill to take, but it also lets some of the pressure off, or, rather, it should.
                You see, everybody likes to think their job is important.
                Except for me, perhaps.
                The only way in which I view my job as important is that it allows me to support my family, my hobbies and my pedestrian vices. Not for nothing, but that oughtta be good enough, don’t you think?
                Today is a day where I seem to be surrounded by people who disagree. I have been bombarded by emails with words like “Urgent”, “Very Important” and, in one memorable case, “Hot! Hot! Hot!”
                Where, I ask you, do they grow these people?
                Let me be clear, I take pride in doing a good job and I believe that I do, but the words “Procurement Analyst” will not appear on the spiritual resume that I present at the sorting time in the great beyond. “Loving husband”, “Conscientious Father”, “Amateur Writer” and “Tolerable Actor” will be the sort of accomplishments I intend to laud. Success or failure of these endeavors will have to be audited at the end of the road.
Success at my job means taking home a paycheck.
So what’s the point of all this? I couldn’t say with any certainty at this point.
If I were to use myself as an example (only because I have all the background data), I would say this, “Relax. Don’t make your job into a lifestyle unless you’re saving lives. That way lies tears and eventual madness, or, at the very least, brutal disappointment.”
Make happy your goal. Then you are always working on the right thing.

No comments:

Post a Comment