When One Life to Live did its "Live Week" (one of my favorite career
experiences--ever) about fifteen years ago, there seemed to be some
disappointment from the audience and the press that there weren't a
bunch of screw-ups. Apparently, doing "live" well wasn't nearly as
interesting to them as was the opportunity to see the regularly taped and
edited professionals mess things up when they couldn't be edited. The
thing is, we, as professionals, wanted to do things right. And through a
combination of hard work and dedication, we pulled off five really good
"live" shows, complete with all sorts of bells and whistles that went
on virtually without a hitch. Or so I remember.
I think back on that week sometimes. I remember how exciting it was in
the moment, and I also remember how great it was to live up to our own
expectations, rather than down to those of the people who wanted us to mess
up.
It seems that in life, there will always be people who expect the worst.
Who almost delight in the mess-ups, who can't--or don't want to--anticipate success. As I
learned during that "Live Week" (and honestly, have learned throughout my career),
the people who get the most done, both in terms of quantity and in terms
of quality, tend to be the ones who think the opposite--who go into a
possibly impossible situation and believe that it is possible. Who may
start with the worst and, with hard work and dedication, make it the
best. Who aim for success, because that's what they expect, not
screw-ups because that's what other people expect.
As far as I can tell, most career--and life--experiences can have a
little of that "Live Week" excitement in them. The question for us
is--are we ready to make them not just exciting, but successful as well?
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