At a restaurant recently, I was eavesdropping on a conversation between an older man who, I presumed, was looking to be hired by a woman for some construction work and general repairs at her house. He was listing off carpentry jobs he had done throughout the years, as well as plumbing, tile work, and welding. The woman was impressed, remarking on how wide a variety of skills and experience he had, and the man launched into stories of his childhood in Alabama working with his father and grandfather and all that he learned from them. How in his 20s, he moved to California and lived with relatives in a nice area of Long Beach for a while. For reasons he didn’t elaborate on, he later ended up in a housing project in Watts and was facing a crisis of sorts. The hard times led him to a revelation he shared with the woman: “I realized the only thing I would ever be was whatever I got off my butt and did.”
I marveled at how simple, yet poignant and devastatingly true, that statement is. You see and hear quotes about chasing your dreams, do what you love, and all that is great advice, but you have to do something in the interim. If you spend your days imagining your dream job, the only thing you are is a dreamer. It’s much better to work hard and learn as many skills as you can. That way you can learn to appreciate hard work, and even if the jobs suck…well, you learned what you don’t want to do with the rest of your life, which has plenty of value in its own right. Crossing that job or career path off the list will help you focus on a job you’ll find rewarding and fulfilling.
For me, it’s always been about cars. I loved them as long as I can remember—the sights and sounds, as well as the mechanical interaction of the driver and the car. As a kid, I read books and magazines; in my 20s, I took VoTech classes and worked at a few shops. There, I realized I didn’t want to work at a flat-rate shop or do general collision repairs. They were hard lessons at the time, but they pushed me further down the path. I went back to college to pursue a degree in photojournalism. While there, I sought out assignments that I could spin an automotive theme on, and after graduating, I landed an internship at Motor Trend, which ultimately led to Car Craft, of course.
This job itself may be a steppingstone to something else, and I need to be open to that possibility. Our company recently entered into a joint venture with Discovery Communications to share current automotive programming and develop new shows. This is exciting to me because it’s an opportunity for Car Craft to extend its reach and move into a new media platform. No matter what, that guy’s advice from yesterday rings true. We can be only be whatever we get off out butts and do today, tomorrow, and the next day, no matter what life throws at you.
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