I am mindlessly watching ESPN. Some sports center-ish athlete interview with what I thought was a worthless jock. And then, in the middle of talking about stress, Julie Foudy (the supposed worthless jock) comes out with the following:
“Pressure is a privilege”
Wow. That is a deep one. Like, it may not have a bottom. And certainly, no top.
Think it through just a bit in relation to your life. I know that when I look at my life, pressure has been a part of it. In reviewing the pivotal points in my career, I had choices to make that the majority of people in this country don’t get to make. I was in a position to make those choices because of what and where I was. I never thought that was a disadvantage. And then Foudy utters the words that make it all ring true. I had the privilege of pressure.
How many of us can claim something similar in our everyday work? We don’t punch a clock. Other than the processes and procedures we develop for our customers – no real set routine. We pressure ourselves to exceed expectations. We are not flipping burgers, pushing an idiot stick, or grinding through a personal episode of “Dirty Jobs.”
Don’t get me wrong. All those jobs need doing. Somebody does them and I am glad it is not me. But there are whole rafts of job categories that the doer just drones through – the same thing every day, every week, every month, year after year.
And then you and I get to make our own schedule, find and create lasting customer and professional relationships, and have an upside only limited by our own ambition, drive, and motivation. Not everyone can claim even part of that.
Give me the pressure to succeed. We have serious mental exercise. We must be agile, think on our feet, and sometimes work odd hours. 40-hour week? Rarely. But, flip all that around, It’s a privilege.
YMMV
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