Like the commercial says, I am at the age where I get stuff done. Or at least I should be at the age where I get stuff done. But what do I get done? What have I got done?
The Dan Patrick Show hands out a Got It Done Award for someone in the news/sports scene who accomplished something worthwhile. (It is a fictitious award, so no real handing out of awards takes place. There is no statue or plaque or even a certificate to the best of my knowledge. In fact, I don't even know if the winners know they have won the Got It Done Award.) When Reese was fighting going to bed particularly hard the past weeks, I told Amy she got the Got It Done Award when she was able to get Reese to sleep. I may have gotten Reese to sleep - and therefore the Got It Done Award - once. So, even in my own house with my own daughter, whom I am basically in charge of, I don't get it done.
I used to get it done. I got a job in the magazine business when I was 20-years-old. I worked hard (and bugged the crap out of the editors) enough to go from working in the mail room to writing music reviews. They liked my writing, so they gave me more and more assignments until I was the magazine representative to go across country for an entire summer with a traveling concert.
I was able to get it done and parlay that job experience into a job with a sports magazine in Los Angeles. Amy keeps reminding me that people get jobs by connections. You know somebody who knows somebody at a company looking for what you do. But I got that job at the sports magazine on a total cold call. I didn't know anyone there. They didn't know me. I talked to someone over the phone, sent in some writing samples, and suddenly I was starting their "extreme sports" section.
I was getting the job done.
And I continued to get the job done.
Maybe I am just feeling the societal pressures of the man being the bread winner. Maybe I am feeling the pressure of turning 36. Maybe I am just being a big baby. But now, it feels like I'm not getting the job done. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get the job done.
The thing is, I know I could get the job done if I had a chance.
However, I know I need to change my perception of what "getting it done" means. Because I am taking care of my daughter. Feeding her. Bathing her. Giving her naps. Taking her to the park. And I am also doing the laundry. And the dishes. And the shopping. And the cooking. Sometimes it gets dwarfed by the multi-million dollar deals Amy has to negotiate. And the fact she pays the mortgage. And every other bill we have, which I am eternally grateful. But I do get the job done.
You know what, I am getting the job done every day. I just need to realize it more often.
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