I'm having a zen moment. One of those mental moments where a new idea so conceived in pressure cooker of my brain suddenly pops a spring and I have to write it down. This is my second one lately. This one came after I'd finished my sample client advisory letter and was at the other half of my day...work. It just hit me. And here we are.
What do you do?
I used to ask this question when I met someone new, but so few people got it, and I had to explain what I really wanted from them so often, I eventually stopped asking because it was just too much of hassle. Especially when after I explained it, I would slowly come to the realization that all too many times "there was no there, there."
What do you do?
I'm not asking about your job, but maybe I do want your career, but most likely I'm asking for what it is you would be doing if money were not your focus or your goal. On some levels, I'm asking for something very intimate: your version of you that only you can see. The secret you. And all too often when I stripped away the million dollars dreams, I found someone whose mind had no real curiosity, who amounted to little more than a heart monitor and lung machine supporting sex organs and an appetite. They wanted for nothing more than, well, "more" or the latest must have thing or to attend the latest event. I've been there, done that and expect more than a free drink and gift bag.
What do you do?
I've met too many people who imagine that they're lives would be inherently different if they lived somewhere "exciting" - like New York or Hollywood. It's like they're waiting for their lives to start. And then they expect to arrive in full bloom, an overnight success. After ages of mindless toil, they will, suddenly discover what its they love and suddenly be good at it. But then they find they aren't so they retreat, quietly broken hearted, disappointed and go back to imagining their lives would be inherently better if they lived somewhere "exciting."
What do you do?
But life isn't about the goal. All too often the goal is fleeting or temporary. A day of celebration after years of hard work that hardly registers, except tomorrow you're directionless and last week you had a purpose. No, the journey is the trick, the goals just way points. So where are you going? Where you are going is what you are doing. And far too many of us stop after a short sprint, or even a short walk, and never imagine the riches that life holds in the distance over the horizon. We pick a new direction with the dawn or every Sunday and keep it moving. But for what? A goal you creep towards is better than great progress to nowhere in particular.
What do you do?
I don't want to quantify your dreams or ambitions, but far too often I see people who if they won the lottery today would in six months wake up and watch television all day. They can't conceive past now or instant gratification. Maybe the dream is music, or paint, or athletic endeavor, or maybe reading or horticulture or cooking or languages or charity work or architecture or cars or just anything, but it has to be something. What do you really want to be? Are you working towards that? And when someone wants to know what you do, that's what you do.
What do you do?
Me. I'm writer. I'm a creative. I don't have the tools I want, but I'll use the tools I have...and I will create.
Barkeep...a bit of the whiskey. My mind needs marinating.
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