Life, the universe, and everything.
Life's a journey,
Not a destination.
-- Aerosmith
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb
-- Hannah Montana
42
-- Deep Thought (Douglas Adams)
OK. So we’re done with the witty quotes for this post. Lets have some Deep Thought about Life.
! Disclaimer, this next part of the post was written like a year ago and sat unfinished on my hdd…
Theres a lot of industry / job / career turmoil going around again, meaning people getting laid off and losing their jobs. Its a tremendous kick in the teeth, I imagine, and sort of knocks my breath out just thinking about the loss of stability & stress that would cause me.
The Shopify branded corporate Koolaid has some interesting tidbits about careers that I thought are worth sharing. It boils down to two points:
- If you think of a problem space as a box you move into, with any job you eventually grow your knowledge & skills to completely fill the box. There may be comfort in living in a filled box, but you only continue to grow by moving to a new box. New boxes mean new problems, which means new stresses.
- You should get more comfortable with being less comfortable. Think of your career as a playground-style jungle-gym of new boxes to fill.
Looking Back
A problem I’ve noticed with myself is a tendency to assume everything done in the past is extremely well done. That code sitting there quietly running the company for the last 9+ years? Probably pristine and super well thought out; no chance of bugs or improvements. That race I ran in highschool? Probably perfectly executed in training, mental planning, and execution.
To the point where I find myself, to stretch the anology, going back to the race track in my mind. Inspecting every hurdle. Thinking about how optimally I cleared that hurdle; perfectly timed, perfectly cleared, perfectly in stride. There is no way it could have been done better.
To the point where I stagnate, and hesitate to even try to improve what has been done in the past. Stagnation is the opposite of growth.
Reality
The reality, of course, is that everything is flawed. The perfect race is yet to be ran. The very definition of perfection is evolving & growing. And while its easy to have nostalgia for the past, it is likely unfounded. My past self was equally flawed, with all sorts of crazy shit going on leading to imperfections. The person who wrote that code 9+ years ago? They were in a time crunch, stayed up late & ate a poor breakfast, cut all kinds of corners, left behind all sorts of really fucking sharp edges, and couldn’t possibly foresee your needs today.
Don’t hesitate to burn it all down. In fact, seize the opportunity to do so.
Humble. Brag?
I ran a half ironman earlier this summer. For the uninitiated, thats:
1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run, totaling 70.3 miles.
I trained adequately, and while it was definitely a physical & mental challenge, I don’t think there was ever a chance of a DNF (did not finish). My time wasn’t great, slightly better than midpoint for my age group, at ~6hr:20m. I was sort of hoping for a sub-6hr, but that wasn’t even close to being in the cards – I blame the course (Muskoka, Ontario) being far more hilly than I imagined; my running pace was therefore far worse than I ever would have imagined.
Distance races I’ve been in recently leave me feeling a strange mix of strength & accomplishment, but also awe & embarassment when I inevitably get passed by someone who has no business passing me. Someone pushing a stroller, power-walking, carrying much more mass, or with an awkward running gait or form… I’ve put in hours per week of training and am still getting crushed by people who, in my view, have no business crushing me. It is wild.
Maybe its inflated ego. Maybe its execution. Maybe its misjudging people by their covers. Probably a combo-meal of all.
I guess the take away is, what are you going to do about it? You can either let it get to you and give up. Or you can run the next race.
I’m always signing up for more races.
