One of the dangers of being an editorial cartoonist is that for years, you just worry about one thing: Your deadline. Then tomorrow, you worry about one more thing: Your deadline. You have an artificial structure where you are allowed to be as creative as you want — but all within the confines of that cycle.
I say it is a danger because if it gets taken away (or if you walk away) from it, you suddenly are left in a world with no structure whatsoever. You discover you are badly in need of some kind of air traffic control. Things come at you and then other things suddenly start falling through the cracks.
I’ve learned that the hard way. I was addicted to the structure of the deadline. It is what pushed me forward when I was procrastinating. It was what motivated me.
You don’t think five or 10 years down the road. You aren’t playing chess with your career. You are playing checkers. That is why you are shocked when someone comes along, taps you on your shoulder and hands you an envelope. Like a frog in a slow boiling pot, you’d just happy in the hot tub.
Until…
I was that way until 2010. Since then, I have been thrashing around trying to survive. Looking back at my journals, I’ve done OK. I have a great job and I love who I work with. But I had a great and loved who I work with. I just had to learn a more entrepreneurial mindset.
Today, I go. And go. And go go so more. But what I have to learn to master is becoming more proactive. To see what the future might brings and seize those opportunities. Work must be fun. And while I must live in the moment, I also know that I have to use that moment to prepare for the future. It is, if the Lord blesses me, coming.
I pray that I become a more strategic thinker.
Let me say this: If you go to your job and do the same thing over and over, you have to prepare for the day when you won’t get to do that thing again. And you must remember this simple truth: You are not your job. The job you do is a reflection of who you are. There’s a big difference there. One will cause you to be crushed if you lose your job. They other mean that if you do it right, people will seek you out to hire you.
Have a great day. I need to head back to work.