Is it September 16th yet?
At the 86th Oscars, Matthew McConaughey won the Academy Award for Best Actor. In his acceptance speech, he said there are 3 things he needs each day:
- Something to look up to.
- Something to look forward to.
- Someone to chase.
The last one is great because it's not what you might think. Here's the transcript of that part of his speech:
My hero, that's who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old I had a very important person in my life came up to me and say "Who's your hero?". I said, "I don't know, I've got to think about that, give me a couple weeks." So two weeks later they came up to me and said "So, who's your hero?". And I said, "I thought about it, you know who it is, it's me in 10-years." So I turn 25, ten years later. That same person comes up to me and asks "So are you your hero?" And I said, "Not even close!". And she said, "Why?" And I said, "It's because my hero is me at 35." So you see: every day, every week, every month, every year of my life, my hero is always 10-years away. I'm never going to be my hero. I'm not going to attain that. I know I'm not. And that's just fine with me because that keeps with somebody to keep on chasing.
My hero is me at 25... me at 35... me at 45... It gives you someone to chase. I like that. The best person you can be is the most authentic version of yourself. It is so easy to fall into the entrapment of comparison syndrome.
Meanwhile, there's this TechCrunch article that came out last week... Note: I'm currently a Cisco employee following the Lightspin acquisition in May 2023.
So here's my pep talk for fellow Cisconians and anyone facing career uncertainty: How much hard work can you do on yourself in a month? Showing your worth, not just for the corporation, but to yourself, your teammates. Instead of being unmotivated, turn that into a freedom of "come what may!" And an attitude of: "I'm going to do my darndest so that if I do get let go, my former coworkers and boss will be very sad to see me go and they will give me raving referrals to launch me into what's next."
Your network is your net worth.
Control the controllable. Focus on creating incremental value to yourself. And in the words of Bill Walsh, do that and the score takes care of itself.
No matter who your employer is in 30-days, jump into what's next and keep on chasing your hero!
I leave you with Matthew's concluding remarks.
So to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we're chasing to that I say Amen. To that I say, alright, alright, alright. And to that I say just keep on living, eh! Thank you."