Tuesday Night Tunes – Is there a Dr. in the House?
I’m not sure there is a doctor in the House but there is a musician.
One of my favorite shows was House, MD. Hugh Laurie played a tough, rough around the edges, sarcastic, egotistical, and overall annoying doctor that really did know it all. Great show and his dry humor made it a hit for me.
Well, in my search for music I found him playing himself. He is a musician first and I have been playing his album all day. If you watched the show back in the day you may find you have a hard time listening to him without seeing the rough doctor.
Try it.
I have been watching Treme on HBO lately and got the idea last night to google New Orleans Jazz and Laurie popped up. I was very surprised. I had seen him pay piano on the show but not like this.
Anyway (that is the seque we use when we don’t have a seque). Anyway, one of the things I heard this week in the series was a line between a husband and a wife. He was trying to learn to play some music that was completely out of his characters norm. He was doing it because he felt he had to in order to get more gigs or something. As he practiced he would listen to someone play on a CD and they pause it and try (unsuccessfully) to play it himself. It was frustrating and not going well at all.
In comes his wife. She listens for a while and he stops playing and she says “what are you doing?”. He tries to answer but it was clear the answer was not resonating with him. It was a string of rationalizations. He then says “so, what do you think?”.
Now that question to a spouse is dangerous. Usually you are not going to get the whole truth. They are afraid it will hurt you if they deliver the whole truth. This sort of conversation has to develop over time. However, in this case I loved her response because I think it as a balance between truth and grace.
She said “I don’t think you are going to be happy getting good at something you don’t love”.
Where are you spending your time? Are you trying to get good at something you don’t love? Some would say that’s not possible. I know from my life that you can get good at something you don’t love and you can even think you love it until you find what you do love. Did you follow that?
I used to be an engineer. I tell folks I am a ‘recovering engineer’. I was a good engineer. I worked a long time in that field and was in demand in lots of places but there was always a problem with it. I would say I loved it but what I really loved was being done. I loved when my project was done and I would stand around with a coffee cup and watch my stuff work. It always worked and I got lots of praise, compliments and money for what I did but I did not love the process.
What I get to do now is what I was made for. I love the process of helping people find the right house or sell the one they have and move up or down, move out of a house into an RV and travel or to buy investments to increase their net worth. I get to help with all that and I love it. I love the process, love the result and I’m happy with the whole thing. Is it perfect? NO!! Is it hard? YES, but I love it.
I get to be home with Susan and I was able to be home with my kids more the last 11 years. I was able to do a lot of things I could never have done otherwise but it was a big change from engineering to sales.
So, are you doing what you love or are you kidding yourself. Share your thoughts and maybe some of your struggles.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-231-1578