Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?
- 05
- Oct
For the last few weeks I have been trying to think of something to write about since work has slowed down and I haven’t come across anything interesting to share with everyone. And then tonight happened. It began with me thinking about what to write in the letter back to Albright in regards to Prof. Matthew Garrison’s possible promotion. I like to go all out on these things. Especially if it is someone that I worked with for the majority of my college life. While the gears were turning on that I decided to check Facebook / Twitter / Google+ and my job just dropped. (P.S. Google+ came up with the news first) The passing of Steve Jobs took over my social media feeds.
Ok, now why was this important enough for me to write up a whole post on this, especially since everyone and their mother will write about it at some point? I mean, I am, by no stretch of the imagination, related or connected in any way to Steve Jobs (other then being a bit of a fanboy, ok, a LOT of a fanboy, but there is a reason). There was a wonderfully dark part of my young career when I was unemployed out of college and after being very fortunate to land two AMAZING jobs in a row. The first was with the State of Maryland’s Department of Legislative Services and then the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a contractor. A year into the NOAA job my services were no longer needed and I was dropped in the worst unemployment trend since the great depression.
The year I spent unemployed was probably the best and worst year of my life. In the process I did a lot of unpaid work and met a lot of very talented people. In addition to the search for a job I also began looking for sources of inspiration. Along with taking a very strong liking to Sir Ken Robinson, I became very familiar with the speech given by Steve Jobs at the 2005 Stanford Commencement. I still believe that is one of the many reasons for my work ethic and demeanor. That year of unemployment turned into me having the privilege of working on a Sci-Fi pilot, and a feature that I also was exec. producer on and really dug into my photography.
This single speech began to eat at me and the events that he described, although on a higher level, were a lot like my own situation at the time. The idea of finding what you love, and not settling resinated very deep with me. I could go on retelling his story, but I suggest you just watch the video. So I found my passion while unemployed and had nothing to loose. That is not all I gained over that year, I also became a lot more optimistic and the idea of always churning away and not settling became a strong reason to keep on working to get better and push what I am capable of. I try to live by this, learning new trades, getting involved, and making new connections. There is no doubt that this speech changed my life. Hands Down.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”