A question I often ask the guest speakers who graciously give of their time to speak to my students is at what point in their career did they know they made “it” – achieved their goals. Most say that no matter what level of success they’ve achieved during their (sometimes very long and accomplished careers), they’ve never totally felt as if they’ve made “it”, primarily due to the instability and insecurity of our business… a feeling I understand all too well.
Then there’s the issue of the illusive, ever-changing “it” – like the times when we decide to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity that comes our way that takes us off course – only to have that detour become a pleasantly surprising substitute for what we thought we wanted. So what was once “it”, can continuously change or evolve over the lifetime of a career, which is fairly routine for those of us in this business.
I sat on a panel of six authors at a terrific event at Samuel French Bookstore last weekend, and the question came up again. “When does one know whether a certain level of accomplishment is ever enough to truly feel as if you’ve made “it”? Filmmaker and panel moderator Jason Tomaric jumped right in by saying (and I’m paraphrasing) that if we expect our accomplishments to make us happy, they won’t…that happiness has to come from within. We should be happy with our lives now and think of the achievements as the frosting on the cake. All of us on the panel agreed, and we kept building on each others’ insights while all coming to the same conclusion that the most meaningful part of realizing our goals is the journey – it’s the experiences we have and the incredible people we get to meet and work with along the way. It’s the travel, the collaboration, the friendships, the creativity, the storytelling, the adventure, the problem-solving, the “I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this” feeling – all of it! And it all boils down to the fact that…
“IT” is the journey – not the destination.
