Why I Do What I Do

I often have family and a few friends who wonder how I can bear having to travel for my job so much. Let me try to explain it using the last two weeks as an example. And I'll take other trip as a contrast/balance to the picture I'm trying to build for you.


First - I love my job. I love the travel it requires, the work that takes me there and the industry we serve - it has been the my career, my family feeder, my life interest.


Second - I still remember the first time I realized project teams came from all parts of the U.S., every week, to play with software at my office. YOU CAN DO THAT? I WANNA DO THAT TOO! Not really liking to meet new people, I wasn't sure how the idea and I would fit together, but I figured I'd figure it out. It is like starting a new job every few weeks or months. I mastered that, stalked industry, got a job. Wooo hooo!


Third - I love the fact that every morning someone fixes breakfast for me! I love that everyday someone makes my bed. I love that my home away from home is always clean. Yes, I live as a minimalist for weeks at a time - but that's less to keep track of anyway.


Fourth - Last week my "office" was in Santo Domingo, this week on a lake (as in walk-the-plank-to-get-to-get-to-the-office on a lake.) Yes, I've had to go to sites in Timbuktu where the biggest town's attraction is the pagoda on the city park's lake, but I've, by golly seen that pagoda. I've seen 1600's New England headstones, Civil War headstones, Columbus' tomb, and met and played with Rock stars and celebrities because of this job. And over and over and over again, I get to work with the allstars of my industry.


The pay off, for me, far exceeds the effort put forth or the compromises needed to do it. Sure, I miss a family event now and again. Sure, some weeks my time hits nearly 80 hours. Sure I get stuck in an airport or have my luggage lost or miss the shuttle home by five minutes and have to wait another hour. Some flights I'm in the center seat in the last row and an all night flight, but sometimes I get to sit in the front and sip champagne before take off. Sometimes my room needs paint, sometimes it is a suite (at one point in time -they were sometimes actually bigger than the apartment I was living in). Sometimes the breakfast choices are along the line of a granola bar and sometimes it offers up caviar. Again, the rewards and experiences far exceed any hassles I've ever encountered.


I do it because it is so very much more than I ever thought I could or would do. I'm so very, very blessed in all aspects of my life.