Flowing Upstream

A lot of times, people will tell you that life is all about timing, but, through personal experiences, I would like to say that life, whether it's in relation to work, school, or friendships and relationships, is actually more about agility and flexibility then timing. Yes, sometimes it is being about being in the right place at the right time, but most of the time, things will only happen if you can roll with the punches and work with what you're given. Maybe this is just my "glass half empty" ethos coming out right now, but I've always been taught that you always have to be prepared to do things the hard way... by yourself... while walking up mountain... in a blizzard. Alright, well maybe that's being a little overdramatic, but I'm sure you get the point.  


Ever had it where you got all the good professors for every class you needed at all the time slots you wanted? Yea, me neither. Was it because you overslept? Had a bad registration time? Were just totally unprepared to schedule when you should have? Maybe it was one or a mixture of many of those things, but if you had back up plans and a willingness to make it happen, you still end up having a decent schedule for the next semester.  


You know that awesome job you wanted so bad that everyone knew you were a shoe-in for? Yea, sorry that went to someone "more experienced with better qualifications", but you did get offered something way down on the food chain. Gonna take it or do you have too much pride for the gesture of "sympathy"? Well that's pretty easy. If you want something bad enough, you should do everything and anything to prove yourself. 


Is that perfect, hunky "Mr. Right" you met at The Boot last semester is going abroad next semester, just a few days before the sorority party he was supposed to be your date for? Well I guess that sucks, it's definitely going to be hard to find another man willing to dress up in a Clifford the Big Red Dog costume for you on such short notice. 


Could all of these things been avoided if timing was different? of course. But can you control everything in life? No. Take a more challenging professor, try a different job or a different path to the same goal, thing of a new costume idea for your date; don't hope to be dealt a perfect hand, just deal with the cards you are handed the best you can. Nothing will ever be perfect because life just tends to fluctuate and go up and down with no rhyme or reason. Treat it like a roller coaster, I mean, no one ever complains about a day at Six Flags, right? Have fun with things but still succeed by being able to think on your feet and forging a path if necessary. Perfect opportunities hardly ever just land in your lap, at least not for me, which I've actually learned to appreciate. It's made me stronger, more innovative, quick-witted, malleable; all things that I'm able to use every day to improve my life. As Gary Ryan Blair, a nationally recognized authority on goal setting and personal strategic planning, once said, "You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions." To me that means, do what you can, when you can. Don't waste so much time waiting around, if you miss a second, you could miss a lot.

Realizations

So back a few days ago at the Cardoner speaker event with John Deveny when he was talking about how he found his way into Public Relations I sat there listening and thinking to myself "if only it was only that easy"; sometimes, as it turns out, like has a sick sense of humor in regards to the sarcastic remarks I make to myself.

This past weekend, I volunteered at The Voodoo Experience music festival working in artist relations for the main stage artists. My boss told me that my role was going to be to assist her and it turns out the way in which she needed assistance was for me to be the point person for most of the headliners and filtering the situations which she'd be called over to handle. In this capacity, I got to have a lot of interactions with the artists' management. I got to talk to these people a great amount of the day and had a chance to really get to know what they do, and it all sounded like tasks I would not only enjoy but excel at. I also got to take a problem, try to find a solution while calling in my boss as little as possible, and disperse tasks between myself and others to accomplish a goal or accommodate a need; a process which I found I was very good at and enjoyed very much.

I've always seen myself probably working at a label or possibly at my own company providing services that I always believed were in the best interest of the artist, but also at the expense of the artist (in the form of taking a commission regardless of what the artist would make) and never really saw very much of a problem with that, after all, I would be providing them a service, it they didn't want to pay, they could just try to provide that service for themselves. After talking to all of these people all weekend though and hearing their stories, I realized it would be more morally appealing to me to work directly with the artist, on the artist's behalf, and only profit from the money they make because of me. I think I finally realized that I want to be a tour manager or at the very least an artist relations person. This volunteer position encompassed things I normally hate like waking up early, being on my feet all day, manual labor, working 16 hour days while not getting paid, etc., but every morning I could not wait to wake up and get there. I genuinely liked what I was doing and was sad to have to stop doing it, something I never thought would happen.

Now the big question I have is "how?". How can I get from where I am now to getting to do that for a living? What are those steps? Where do I go from here? I was invited to work at Essence Fest in July (the same people who do Voodoo also plan Essence), but July is too far away. I've had a taste of something great and now I need it again, and soon. There's always the chance of trying to do this at Jazz Fest, but even April is far away, and all of these answers and festivals are all temporary fixes. I want to do this permanently, full-time. Now that it seems as if I've had the "eureka!" moment, it is time for me to start a new journey, and for once, I'm not scared at all.