Thursday, April 21, 2011

Because I'm lucky

It doesn’t get much better than this. Sitting on the back porch, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, Tucker (the pooch) curled up at my feet, slight breeze, and serenaded by the birds. Do I have to go back to school? I never realize how much I truly miss home until I come back, and boy did I miss it this time. It’s been a full four months since I’ve been back and it feels like nothing has changed, which I love. Sitting here on the back porch just makes me realize how lucky I am.


I’m lucky, truly, deeply, whole-heartedly lucky. Things are just falling into place for me right now and I couldn’t be happier about it. This past year I have worked so hard and sacrificed some of my relationships for school work or putting extra time into various organizations, and now it’s paying off. This is truly the best feeling I could ever ask for. And the best part is that I wasn’t expecting any of it.

I wasn’t expecting to get into my top choice school, Roehampton University in London, for my fall study abroad experience. I wasn’t expecting to get an ideal internship with the Marketing and Communications Department for UNCW as only a sophomore. I wasn’t expected to get nominated for the “Unsung Hero” student organization leadership awards for Student Ambassadors. I wasn’t expecting for my parents to buy me a car that I would be able to take back to school with me after this weekend. I just wasn’t expecting this, any of it. I’m lucky.

John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” I’ve always loved this quote because it has always been true. Well now, my life is happening because of the plans I’ve made and worked towards. But none of it ever really would mean anything if it wasn’t for the hard work put in, and the unwavering support of my friends and family. I haven’t been the best daughter, sister or friend because school and work have been so important to me. But I thank you; I thank all of you that have stood by me regardless. My life wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t for the amazing people in it. So while I’m sitting here reflecting on all the good, the parts I’m most proud of in my life are the relationships I’ve made rather than the accomplishments.

So to my friends and family, thank you; truly, deeply, whole-heartedly, thank you.

I love you.

"I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom." - Unknown.

<3

Erin.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Linchpin: "something that holds the various elements of a complicated structure together"

So I'm reading this book for my Integrated Marketing Communication class and it's called, Linchpin by Seth Godin. Over the course of the semester we have been reading Godin's daily blogs but this book is far different. This book inspires, it plants a seed that only continues to grow page by page. The more I read the more I want to blog and respond to its contents. The more I think about them the more I keep saying to myself, "Yes, absolutely, yes!" It's one of those books.

I want to be a linchpin. I want to be that person people depend on and look to. I no longer will simply settle to fit the status quo but go beyond. From here on out, I strive to be indispensable.

"The linchpin is the individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen. Every worthwhile institution has indispensable people who make differences like these."

The world needs more linchpins, flat out; more people that don't seek for the "9-5" job with day by day instructions. People that don't ask what needs to be done but those who look around and find ways to make something more effective and do it; people that don't wait for instructions but take action. If you are a linchpin that means you are indispensable. You no longer are simply a body performing a task, but you bring something more to the table, you become valuable. Everyone is capable of becoming a linchpin, and if you realize if you'll soon realize that it is absolutely worth it.

The law of linchpin leverage: The more value you create in you job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value. In other words, more of the time, you're not being brilliant. Most of the time, you do stuff that ordinary people could do.

But don't worry, if this idea of a linchpin is too outlandish for you, not every organization needs one, so pick a different job. Maybe flipping burgers at McDonald's sounds appealing to you, because I guarantee you will have a specific task and a manager making sure that that task is the only thing you are performing and in a very particular pattern.

Being a linchpin isn't about being perfect or brilliant every minute of every day, we're still human. But it's about putting your best foot forward all the time. You don't want to be perfect, because perfection is boring and perfection creates fear. It creates a fear inside you that maybe something you do or say won't be perfect. Fear. Fear is your greatest enemy, because as soon as you feel the fear it will consume you. You will be afraid to step out of the box, afraid to offer any idea because maybe it's not perfect. The world doesn't want perfect, the world wants different. Because those that stepped out of the box and did something different because successful, became linchpins.

"Eating ice cream is easy. Making something that matters is hard." - Seth Godin

<3

Erin.