Thanksgiving is time to smell the roses

My problem, and I suspect many of you have the same flaw, is that I think too much.

When you're young and starting out in the business, you think too much about the future. When you're on the back nine of your career, you think too much about the past. When you're young you run into all sorts of forks in various roads that can send your career soaring or straight into the dumper. When you're older you wonder what might have been had you chosen a different direction.

Almost all of my clients have five years experience or less, and some are still in college. The common denominator is the worry I hear in their voices when presented with a choice. And with the future of broadcasting so much in doubt, the level of anxiety has gone up since I was a rookie reporter. But while you're looking to the future, and it is very natural to do so, you're missing the present.

Looking back I've gotten to do some pretty neat stories and visit some places the average person never would. Walking on the floor of a national political convention, hanging out with Jay Leno is his garage, talking with baseball heroes in Cooperstown. During all those times, the undercurrent of the future was always flowing through my brain. Instead of just enjoying the moment I was always too busy wondering if this might be the story that got me to the next level. The memories are wonderful, but it is almost like I was an observer, that these things didn't really happen to me.

While most of the topics on this blog relate to job hunting, I hope you'll take the time to enjoy that fact that you really don't have to work for a living. Sure, you're not making a ton of money, but would you rather be a roofer, wait tables, work on an assembly line? Most of those people have no dreams, no shot at the brass ring. Most of them can't make a difference, make the world a better place.

When I graduated from college my dad offered me the keys to our delicatessen, but I didn't go to college to make two hundred sandwiches every day for the next forty years. That was hard work, with nothing creative about it. I wanted to take a blank page every day and fill it with something unique.

So if you're going to be thankful today, consider the fact that despite the fact that you might have a News Director who needs to be on the side of a milk carton, you have a pretty cool job. Take the time to enjoy each day. You can keep an eye on the future, but keep your feet firmly planted in the present.

You may make it to the top or you may not. But at least enjoy the ride.