Problogue: We all work hard, we all try to succeed. Some succeed without really sweating it out, just kind of going with the flow. How is that possible? Is it "working hard", or "working smart" or something else?
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I have a good baseball coaching friend--a two time Hall of Famer--who doesn't like to describe life in athletics as "grinding".
He thinks that baseball is fun, baseball is a game, and baseball is full of pleasure, even when it means hard work. "Grinding" misleads. "Grinding" negates the undercurrent of what makes the game great.
He has a point.
I've tried at times to pursue things that I found interesting but was not particularly suited for or prepared for. Round peg in square hole stuff. Trying to grind my way to success.
It occurred to me at some point that maybe I might be more successful if I applied a process I first heard about in the context of martial arts: instead of trying harder to be good, try softer.
Try softer.
To me, trying softer means to go with the flow, the concept of the martial art's akido. In my life it's meant figuring out what I do well, what I like to do, and then finding a way to make a living out of that information.
If you want to get spiritual about it, letting the universe take you where it wants to, not trying to guide your rocketship life where you think it should go, is the anti-grinding.
Not that hard work is unimportant. Not that preparation is unnecessary. Not that planning is a wasted effort.
If taking the four hours it takes to generate information for a broadcast is "grinding"...if investing three hours setting up the video equipment needed to do a multi-broadcast television broadcast is "grinding"...if being on the air for a five-hour doubleheader and then spending another hour taking down the production so it's ready to go next time is "grinding", then maybe video sports broadcasting as a producer and play-by-play announcer is not for you.
Running water finds the path of least resistance, and still manages to get places.
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Speaking of running water: my recent trip to the North Shore of Hawaii nearly ended sadly for me, but for a North Shore lifeguard who pulled me out of the surf after I'd been swept out by the undertow and could not get back to shore.
If they had not been nearby and watchful, I would not have survived.
Funny thing about my near-death experience: the take-away was that 59 year old, overweight midwesterners should be smarter than to think they can do the same things as 20-something athletic Islanders.
Lesson learned. And thank you to the Sunset Beach life guard.
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