I first met X when she was underemployed. Well, not underemployed, exactly, but under-supported. X could organize the second coming while unconscious. She seemed to breathe a different atmosphere than others, slaying the dragon of obstructive and nonsensical insurance regulations like some kind of Jedi knight. While others slogged through complicated decisions line-by-line, getting ever more confused, X never lost her footing. She seemed to intuit the right answer in a flash. Then she would explain her reasoning to the rest of us in a single sentence, and we’d see the clear path of her reasoning. Agree or disagree, it made perfect sense.
X was chafing for a bigger field to play in, a place she could make a bigger difference. Her boss chose not to give her that chance.
X quit, choosing to believe in herself. She chose to believe that her skills and her vision belonged on a bigger playing field, and that she would find it. She had no idea where to look. It was hard to leave what she’d spend years creating.
She consulted, took an interim job, consulted some more. She stayed restless and dissatisfied, and questioned daily her decision to leave the safety of what she’d created for the vagaries of what she believed could be. In the middle of this, the recession hit hard with its high unemployment and dearth of opportunities. I felt a little bad for encouraging her to follow her star.
But X is a fighter.
Last night we had dinner together and she told me about her new gig, doing what she alone can do, fully supported and appropriately compensated. It’s huge, what she’s bitten off.
The story of X reminds me of Kenneth Atchity’s three rules of time management:
Don’t do anything that doesn’t need to be done.
Don’t do anything that someone else will do if you stop doing it.
Only do what only you can do.
X is the right one to get this done. I can’t wait for updates.
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