Plan B or : let the race begin

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of spending a week with a young actor named Antony. He was placed under my wings for his work experience and I endeavoured to make his time at the office as much of an experience as I could.
I was very inspired to teach him all about organization and efficiency that I have learned and it was such a pleasure to see his amazement in his eyes. “you did all that?” he kept asking when I showed him the filing cabinets and organized structures I have implemented at my company. When someone looks at you like this, you understand that just because it’s your job, doesn’t mean you are creative with it, grew with it, taught yourself how to do it, figured out clever ways to work around problems others don’t even know existed.When somebody looks at you like this, you realize how wonderful it is that you have.

I have learned so much about how to get lots done with a minimum amount of effort. I can organize and coordinate and make things happen. I have become reliable and consistent. A few years ago, these qualities were rather far from me. I can be on time, I can finish a task on time, I can do the most “boring” things and still have a really good day.

What’s the secret? Antony understood it very quickly: The Secret to this success is to make what you do fun. It’s easy to say that if you love what you do, you will have a good life. We all know that some things are more fun than others. I am a singer-songwriter and I work in an administrative position. I know about this! However, the trick is to make what you do fun.
I don’t rely on too many external glamour points anymore. I have been disappointed often enough to see through glamour. The Glamour-success such as standing ovations at a performance, Champagne and kids screaming for my autograph are fabulous, no doubt but they don’t make you a happy person. They get you excited and happy in the moment, which also has a seductive tendency to make you dependent on them. To need the next success, big gig, more people wanting you, bigger record deal etc.

My mother taught me to see this success as a bubble bath: Enjoy it while you’re in it and then get out. You don’t want shrivelled hands. Bubbles are great to play with and look at and then they pop because that’s what Bubbles do. That’s the fun of it!

And what happens if your life just won’t give you these bubble experiences too often anyway? What if you just don’t happen to become one of those 2% who make it really big even though you believed in it all your life?
Ask my friends and family weather I believed if I was going to make it. Anybody will tell you that I did. Yet I haven’t made it. YET. There is a little more to it. Or maybe less…( success also takes a certain amount of meritocracy)
Or if you have the great success and you get tired of it. Most people change over their lifetime. Very few actually want to stay in the same place for too long.

This is when PLAN B comes in. Now, if Plan B is a really good one with plenty of opportunity for you to grow, have fun, play, enjoy, succeed, explore, you will have a great life no matter what happens.

When I look back at my life later, and I spent most of it trying to make it…I may think: dang: I spent so much time trying to make it, I wish I had taken more time to live and enjoy it.
If I made it I may think: I made it but boy it was hard work. Was it worth it? Well in a way yes but then again I wish I could have enjoyed the journey more. Had it been less about the making it and more about enjoying…I think if I started again, that’s what I’d want.

If I make this a good life, I will look back and think: I had a great life. I made it and I enjoyed every step of the way.
Or: I had a great life, I might not have reached the big goal but it was such a fun journey to go. Going for the big goal took me places I wouldn’t have gone without it.

So Plan B stands for Brilliance, balls and beauty, bubbles, business and Bliss
Plan B allows us to go into the heart of the matter.
Antony understands what playing office means. Many of my colleagues don’t. I think it can be fun to do the expenses for my boss because he gets really happy when he gets money back and he loves delegating the task to me. It makes him feel like a boss and I get to play moneypenny. I put on a tired face, then I trot to my desk and criticize the shape of my nails and have a cup of tea and sort the bills out.

I think it’s fun to play let’s send out a marketing pack. I log it in my mailing log and I write neatly on the address label and I take a compliment slip, we are so professional, we weigh and frank and put it on the table. Do you remember playing post office of shop as a child? Playing adult? Playing “proper”?
This is what having a dayjob is about…Play proper and get it done with a smile.
Antony got a real hang of it and used the “private and confidential” stamp to mark when he got through things. Stamp it. Done. Official. Stamp it again.

Antony wants to “make it”. I want to “make it”.
I have no doubt in my mind that he will make it. I can only wish for him that he enjoys every step of the way.
Let the race begin. It’s fun.