She Meant Well

I intended to put my kids to bed at a reasonable hour, really, I did, yet they're still up.  I meant to plan ahead for birthdays and Chanukah this year, yet here I am, within a week of all of it, and totally unprepared.  I was supposed to send out lots of networking emails today, but instead, I played board games with my son when he came home from school.  And I was hoping to write my blog earlier today, but, well, things happen.

In each of these cases, I hear myself (or perhaps my mother) saying, "you meant well."

In my childhood, if the intention was good, but the effort didn't quite hit the mark, we'd say, "she meant well."

These days, I am getting the feeling that "meaning well" doesn't do you all that much good.  I get it--people want to see results, not attempted results.  They want to know that the person they hire will not just TRY to get the job done, but will ABSOLUTELY get it done.  All understandable.  But where is the place where it matters that you had a person's or a company's best interests at heart?  When can it make a difference that beyond having technical abilities, you care and are dedicated and loyal?

I don't actually know whether, in my childhood, we used "she meant well" in a generally negative or positive way, but what I do know is that "meaning well" should matter.  It should matter that a person is more than just the list of skills and accomplishments on his or her resume.  It should matter whether he or she tried to do the right things--whether the words on paper convey that or not.

When I look back on my career, I am sure that I will think of great words I've written, great videos or TV I've directed or edited, and Emmys and DGA awards I've won, but it will be impossible to leave out the everyday times when it was just about my heart being in the right place.  And it will be okay with me to hear "she meant well."  Because, alongside the productions and awards, in my book, "meaning well" matters a whole lot too.