…. it sounds pretty self-explaining, doesn’t it?
Having worked in the event industry for the last 14 years this quote has been a constant companion in my life.
Right after school when we all started going in different directions, trying to figure out our first steps of our careers and getting started at college, in first jobs or just went travelling the times you could see your friends got way more rare than we you were used to.
I remember the phone calls, texts and discussions vividly when I started cancelling dinners three days in a row because I couldn’t leave work on time or I something has popped up in between.
“You just started with them, you are doing an apprenticeship, how come you are that important for this project? Don’t they have others doing that? Why is it always you? Be careful they don’t take advantage of you!” Those were the kind of questions and comments I got from time to time.
Friends and family sometimes couldn’t understand or let’s better say they were a bit worried that I would put in too much into it and not get anything back in return doing the new thing.
Relationships were a tough subject as well: “Is your job more important than our relationship? Are you cancelling on me again? Why do you have to travel on a Sunday already? You are not home before 10pm on a Friday?” Exhausting discussions non-stop while you are in the middle of everything trying to figure it all out.
You don’t make a hell of money yet, yes, you are still the newbie in the game plus you are beginning of your twenties and there are all these parties and other challenges that life puts out to you: No matter if it’s your first apartment or discussions with your parents how to re-event living under one roof while you are working and being an adult. #amIreallythatoldthatyoucancallmeadult.
But no matter how many questions you get asked, how many people you feel you might have disappointed or how often you must cancel again: You cannot set-up HALF of an event, you cannot submit a 50% complete quote to a client and you cannot become a 100% team member not giving 100% or even more. Before you do things half, rather think twice if it’s really want you want to do, but the moment you commit to it you got a do it. #priorities
And this mindset doesn’t have anything to do with your title, with your position, with how long you have been with a company. You are part of a team, you got tasks, people relay on you and every piece of a puzzle or in this case of a project is important, otherwise it’s a like the domino effect. One thing doesn’t work and it impacts another thing and another thing.
So, you got to do it, you got to do it 100% and you got to do it right. If it doesn’t work out in the end, if you figure it doesn’t make you happy or it’s not the thing you like to do forever you can always change it, but if you don’t do it right you will never find out.
I am grateful that I learned this lesson very early in my life when my parents, especially my dad, often made my go back to work a little bit more on my homework or empowered me to add a little something to it (don’t you think you need a cover page, can you add a picture, do you think this is perfect?) and always made me question the status quo and seeing the whole picture. We also wouldn’t stop re-arranging our house, always making it a little bit more beautiful, we always found a corner we wanted to change or improve and when my dad had one idea, my mum would add it to it, so did my brother and I and in the end of the day a one hour project turned into a week-end action #itwasntalwaysfuntobehonest. We were never done #andhestillisnot but we learned how to do things right or at least don’t stop before we were all happy with the result.
Taking this experience with me starting my career in events helped me ton and actually made me passionate about doing things 150%, focusing on details ( if we get these side tables, we need to flowers on them, which means we need to get vases, which means we have to water the flowers, which means we have to get water, which means we have to do it every day and maybe exchange the flowers throughout the event and they have to fit the overall theme of it – but yes, we need to get the side tables) and making it right. Which often means to go the extra mile.
And believe me: People will notice, people feel the passion and the all the thoughts that you will put into it will make you better than the rest. It’s worth it.
Having that said and being on you my current journey right now YOU MAKE IT OR YOU BREAK IT is right on my mind again. While I had the plan to take it a little easier, enjoying life to the fullest, getting ready for #mylittlelucy to arrive and living the dream in Portlandia while writing my book, I quickly recognized that you can’t do things half. You can’t just write a book aside and you are happy with the outcome. You can’t publish a book in 2017 without being present on social media #areyouabloggernow #howisyournewhashtagworld and you can’t just spend 2-3 hours a day on it. You got to do it right #cantjusthaveablog; you got to embrace and believe in it. Otherwise just kill the project, call it a day and it’s fine, too but don’t do it halfa**
Long story short there is not really a choice right now rather than doing this one right as well. Once the book is published and this project is done, we can talk about it, reflect and reconsider, but for now – let’s do it. Right.
Happy Sunday and have fun doing your thing!
m.
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