We didn't win

-
We were notified that we had won something for last nights regional NAMA event, so my boss and I traveled to the event. But we didn't win... we received a second place merit award.

I have to admit in these situations when I have an expectation that we will win and the expectation isn't quite met the way I thought I have feelings of unfairness, wondering how are they judging this work. We've won before at these events and we've also come away with merit before and even nothing.

The thing I have to look at is we made it to this level and it gives us the opportunity to see what others are doing as well as network with those that are doing it. Judging creative work for awards is an imperfect art, by imperfect judges, but it's better than no recognition and no ability to see what else is being done in our industry.

So, it's always a good thing to experience not winning, to see those that are winning, to keep showing up and creating the best work that you can and someday, someday you will win. It may not be an award, but you will win.

Popular posts from this blog

Be brave and ask for help

-
We were at the library yesterday and my daughter wanted to find some Doc McStuffins books. I told her she could ask the librarian for help to figure out where they might be if she really wanted them, but she was going to have to ask. I told her I'd go with her. It took a little coaxing, and the librarian was really patient. But, she did get the words out and the librarian helped her find a Doc McStuffins book. Plus, she asked my daughter if she wanted to go in the back and find another Doc McStuffins book that had just been returned. So Josie got to go in the back with the librarian and find the book that had just gotten returned. It was kind of a fun teaching moment for me with Josie. If she hadn't asked the librarian for help she probably wouldn't have found those books and she definitely wouldn't have gotten to go by herself in the back with the librarian to find a second Doc McStuffins book. Sometimes it's good to just stop searching, be brave, and ask for
Read more

The 3 things

-
What are the 3 things you need to focus on today? You may have more things and that's fine, but list out the top 3 things. Now give yourself no more than 1 hour to 90 minutes to work on each one of them. And mark them off when you're done. Give yourself time to do other things like check email outside of these 3 things. But try to give uninterrupted time to the 3 things individually once you start working on one of them. You'll also notice that this is only 3 to 4 and a half hours of your workday. That's right. The rest is for smaller tasks, phone calls, emails, conversations, and meetings. I didn't come up with this and won't claim it will work for everybody, but I've found it helpful to focus each day. I'm not sure where it originated from I picked it up from a webinar over the last 2 months.
Read more

Why are things so important?

-
It's just stuff, right? My daughter said this last night, "God is more important than things." It was in response to my mother-in-law's family feud around all the stuff that they have to divvy up. It's been over a year since they started and it's been extremely emotionally charged. Many things have been said among the siblings about each other and who gets what. Some are upset that others don't value some things as much as they do or want them. Some think some have taken too much stuff. Some feel like they don't get anything. Some think it's not fair. Some just want it all done. All these things are important to all of them for different reasons. And they're not the only ones that value stuff. I do. My kids do. My wife does. Not everything, but there are things that we place value on. But, my wife and I want to work to instill in our kids that people and God are way more important than things. I find myself saying things like, "Don
Read more