These are my own personal views, your “smileage” may vary.

If you try too hard, at anything, you will never be surprised and delighted. When I was asked to front the Skidder Munroe Band, I was surprised and delighted. When I was given a million dollar radiopharmaceutical sales territory while only possessing a GED, I was surprised and delighted.

Likewise, when I was asked to come in house and start a video production unit, I was more than surprised and completely over the moon.

I work with a very talented guy who is on a fast track to a nervous breakdown. He’s trying to move ahead in his career but is being thwarted by clueless management and a growing enemies list. His frustration is palpable.

He broods, he paces, he daydreams and he suffers, because things aren’t going his way.

Been there, done that.

To me, life is like a Chinese finger puzzle, the more you struggle, the more you get stuck.

When you grind away and think you got it coming, it usually doesn’t come. And if it does, you don’t savor it, because you think you had it coming.

Endless suffering.

I remember the story about an erstwhile comic who saw Rodney Dangerfield sitting at the bar and went over to tell him how much he idolized him. Instead of grace, he got venom. Rodney went off in a rage of expletives about how he should have made it sooner but those motherfuckers made him suffer. How no one appreciated his incredible talent back then. How he was forced to play all those dingy shit holes for years because he got “No respect.”

He died miserable, and in his own mind, disrespected.

When you work hard at the things you enjoy working hard at, things happen. In their own time.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

Enjoy the struggle.