It’s Not Personal (so, don't take it personally)

I saw a post on Linkedin today for my old job. 

It’s a different title, but it’s my old job. The one they said they didn’t need back in July. 

Now they need it again. 

Back then I said, “It’s the best thing for me. Now I’ll kick myself in the ass and go do what I do best.” Which wasn’t this job.

Still today, it hits hard. 

Especially, when I’m still in process of kicking my own ass to hustle each day. It’s a struggle, I’m not gonna lie. 

It’s easy to ask, “what’s wrong with ME?” It’s easy to point fingers and blame and say if they knew what the fuck they were doing they’d offer it to me. Or if they knew what the fuck they were doing they’d have never let me go in the first place. 

“Why I oughta…” (I think while shaking my indignant fist in the air).

But I miss a couple of things when I do that. 

First, I take it personally, and they never meant it to be personal. 

It’s just business. 

And while companies play fast and loose with people's lives when they have these reductions in force, the point is, it’s not personal. If it were personal, they wouldn’t play fast and loose in the first place.

Second, they’ll find someone who’ll do it better than I did. 

I’m not saying that to make anybody feel better (me included, because how the fuck would that make me feel better?). 

I’m saying it because it’s true. 

I’m never going to be the best at something I don’t LOVE doing. It’s not possible. I won’t put in the discretionary effort I would if I loved it. 

That’s why it’s so important to L-O-V-E what you do. 

If you’re thinking, “Ryan, hardly anybody loves what they do. I’m a housekeeper at a hotel. I make other people’s beds all day. Nobody loves this job.”

That’s false. 

There’s somebody who loves EVERY job, no matter what it is. If it’s not you, you’re in the wrong job. 

Let me tell you a story about how this applies to, yes, even you. 

My first job out of college was at a used car lot. I was the office manager, and yes, I was even a card-carrying used car salesman (I had a salesman’s license). 

I mostly handled all the behind the scenes stuff. One of those things was managing the inventory. 

One day, the owner of the car lot who bought all the cars came home with a brown 1985 Pontiac Bonneville. Even in 1992, it was an old grandpa car. And brown cars have a nickname in the car business - “stay around brown”- because nobody wants a brown car. So, they stay around for a loooong time. 

With my inventory management hat on, I asked, “Why’d you buy that?” But it was more in the tone of, “Why the hell’d you buy THAT?”

His answer, “Ryan, there’s an ass for every seat. That’s a great car, and somebody’s going to want a good affordable car.”

In the end, he was right. And so was I, but him being right was more important. It stayed around (in all it’s brown glory) for a couple of months, but eventually somebody bought it. 

Back to loving what you get paid to do.

There’s somebody for every job. And if you don’t LOVE what you do, you owe it to yourself and whoever is going to love your job, to go do that thing you love. 

And let somebody thrive where you are. Because I guarantee, somebody’s going to love your job. 

So, while seeing my old job get posted hits hard today, it won’t hit hard for long. 

I’m doing what I do best, every day. 

You should to. 

BTW - I help people figure out what they do best. If you need help, hit me.