I've recently found that podcasts are a great way for me to spend my time on my way to and from work each day when I'm not talking to Mama. The main one I listen to is from a sportswriter I have enjoyed for years named Bill Simmons. While he mostly writes and talks about the NBA, his podcast is more wide-ranging in its cultural scope. He recently had Bryan Cranston, the lead actor from the TV show Breaking Bad, on. While they talked a little about his experience on the show, their discussion turned to how he got started in acting. He went to college to be a police officer, and ended up taking an acting class for some credit and found that he loved it. He did that for a couple years, and eventually reached a point where he realized that he needed to decide if he was actually going to try and make acting work for him. He and Bill then started talking about how the two of them got into their respective fields, and they had three points that really hit home for me:
1. You have to absolutely love what you do. They were talking about sportswriting and acting specifically. Following the number of people that I do on Twitter who write about Michigan sports, the field of sportswriting is so saturated with people wanting to get into that business. I can read seven different stories of a two-hour Michigan basketball game, and they all say basically the same thing. In a wider sports sense, you have ESPN that's the biggest, but CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and Bleacher Report are all media outlets that are trying to convince audiences to use their platforms too, all with writers dedicated to the writing about the same events. In acting, I always think of all the Thespian kids I knew at State High who wanted to go to school for theater and hopefully make it big at some point. The vest majority of these people in both fields aren't going to become the next Zach Lowe (the newest and biggest name in NBA sports writing right now) or Angelina Jolie (no explanation necessary 😉). So, is it worth it for these people to keep doing what they're doing? If they love it, than definitely! Bryan Cranston played the dentist on Seinfeld for six episodes of the show, and only got his big break in his mid-thirties with Malcom in the middle. He kept acting because he loved it and it was worth it to him.
2. Make sure you know who the big people in your field are and try to learn from them in some way. Bill Simmons said he had young people come up to him all the time, telling him that they wanted to get into sports writing, and he would ask them: "Who's your favorite writer?" and they would look at him blankly and say: "I don't know." He said this was such a shame because there's so much to learn from people who understand their craft and are obviously engaging enough to get people to read their stuff. Same thing in acting. I once listened to part of Tina Fey's autobiography, and she talked about how when she worked for a theater company in Chicago, nobody ever jumped right to the most important acts. They would have new actors in the company train with others around them until it was apparent that they had what it took. There's a lot to learn from imitating people who have experience in what they do, and I appreciated that insight as Bill and Bryan talked.
3. Practice your craft. The two of them referred to this more as "hustle," but I think it's the same concept. If you want to become a good sports writer, then you have to write all the time until you get tot he point that you're actually writing something that other people find interesting enough to read. Given my obsession with Michigan sports in general, some family members have said that I should get into sports writing or sportscasting and that I would be good at it. I do think I would be good at it, but honestly, I don't have the desire to "hustle" to get to that point. If I wanted to do it, it would probably mean that I should write for a Michigan blog several times a week until I get noticed and they ask me to start writing for them. That sounds exhausting, especially after a ten-hour day at work when all I really want to do is spend time with Rebecca. I'm okay reading and telling the people around me what I think, but I'm too lazy to "hustle" enough to make it in that field. 😉
After listening to all of this awesome advice (which I thought could really be applied to any job) it got me thinking about what I want to do with my career. Regardless of what my employers would like to think, my goal is and always has been to go into the Foreign Service. As I tell people whenever they ask, I've known what I want to do for my career since high school. And with all of this great, free advice from two people who are obviously successful, I started thinking about what I could do to apply all of these ideas.
1. Going back to the idea that you have to love what you do, I know that that will be the case when I get into the Foreign Service. I don't know that there's a better way to try out something than to go do an internship, and thankfully I got to go try out the Foreign Service with an internship. While it was still work, and work isn't always fun, I never dreading going to work specifically because I didn't enjoy working at the embassy. I had the best experience, and I was good at it. Plus, Rebecca enjoyed the experience of living abroad and realized that she could do it. So I'm not at all worried about us not loving it.
2. There aren't many opportunities for me to learn from ambassadors these days, but I certainly did my best while at Michigan! I took every class I could with the ambassadors who were at Michigan, including a former ambassador who came as a visiting lecturer for a semester. Now that I'm no longer in school, there are lots of books out there about being a foreign service officer and working in the State Department. That's really the only chance I'll have to get exposure to the career I want these days, so I guess I better start reading!
3. Finally, there's not much you can do for the State Department except continuing to apply. You're only allowed to apply one a year, and my time is coming up. Having applied three or four times already, I just have to keep the faith and "hustle." It would be easy to give up, but continuing to plan out when I'm going to apply and staying on top of my application is definitely important.
One other thing is keep up with what is going on in the State Department. These days, it's pretty discouraging what's going on with diplomacy, what with policymakers choosing to move away from talking to other countries. It's made a lot of foreign service officers really frustrated, meaning that applicants are no longer applying, and those already in the State Department are leaving very frustrated. I can't do anything about that, but I can try to take advantage of the diminished applicant pool by making myself someone who's willing to work there! Well see if it pays off!
All of this is with the goal of actually starting the career that I want. I appreciated the advice, and gave me chance to reflect on what I'm doing, and how I can improve.
1. You have to absolutely love what you do. They were talking about sportswriting and acting specifically. Following the number of people that I do on Twitter who write about Michigan sports, the field of sportswriting is so saturated with people wanting to get into that business. I can read seven different stories of a two-hour Michigan basketball game, and they all say basically the same thing. In a wider sports sense, you have ESPN that's the biggest, but CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and Bleacher Report are all media outlets that are trying to convince audiences to use their platforms too, all with writers dedicated to the writing about the same events. In acting, I always think of all the Thespian kids I knew at State High who wanted to go to school for theater and hopefully make it big at some point. The vest majority of these people in both fields aren't going to become the next Zach Lowe (the newest and biggest name in NBA sports writing right now) or Angelina Jolie (no explanation necessary 😉). So, is it worth it for these people to keep doing what they're doing? If they love it, than definitely! Bryan Cranston played the dentist on Seinfeld for six episodes of the show, and only got his big break in his mid-thirties with Malcom in the middle. He kept acting because he loved it and it was worth it to him.
2. Make sure you know who the big people in your field are and try to learn from them in some way. Bill Simmons said he had young people come up to him all the time, telling him that they wanted to get into sports writing, and he would ask them: "Who's your favorite writer?" and they would look at him blankly and say: "I don't know." He said this was such a shame because there's so much to learn from people who understand their craft and are obviously engaging enough to get people to read their stuff. Same thing in acting. I once listened to part of Tina Fey's autobiography, and she talked about how when she worked for a theater company in Chicago, nobody ever jumped right to the most important acts. They would have new actors in the company train with others around them until it was apparent that they had what it took. There's a lot to learn from imitating people who have experience in what they do, and I appreciated that insight as Bill and Bryan talked.
3. Practice your craft. The two of them referred to this more as "hustle," but I think it's the same concept. If you want to become a good sports writer, then you have to write all the time until you get tot he point that you're actually writing something that other people find interesting enough to read. Given my obsession with Michigan sports in general, some family members have said that I should get into sports writing or sportscasting and that I would be good at it. I do think I would be good at it, but honestly, I don't have the desire to "hustle" to get to that point. If I wanted to do it, it would probably mean that I should write for a Michigan blog several times a week until I get noticed and they ask me to start writing for them. That sounds exhausting, especially after a ten-hour day at work when all I really want to do is spend time with Rebecca. I'm okay reading and telling the people around me what I think, but I'm too lazy to "hustle" enough to make it in that field. 😉
After listening to all of this awesome advice (which I thought could really be applied to any job) it got me thinking about what I want to do with my career. Regardless of what my employers would like to think, my goal is and always has been to go into the Foreign Service. As I tell people whenever they ask, I've known what I want to do for my career since high school. And with all of this great, free advice from two people who are obviously successful, I started thinking about what I could do to apply all of these ideas.
1. Going back to the idea that you have to love what you do, I know that that will be the case when I get into the Foreign Service. I don't know that there's a better way to try out something than to go do an internship, and thankfully I got to go try out the Foreign Service with an internship. While it was still work, and work isn't always fun, I never dreading going to work specifically because I didn't enjoy working at the embassy. I had the best experience, and I was good at it. Plus, Rebecca enjoyed the experience of living abroad and realized that she could do it. So I'm not at all worried about us not loving it.
2. There aren't many opportunities for me to learn from ambassadors these days, but I certainly did my best while at Michigan! I took every class I could with the ambassadors who were at Michigan, including a former ambassador who came as a visiting lecturer for a semester. Now that I'm no longer in school, there are lots of books out there about being a foreign service officer and working in the State Department. That's really the only chance I'll have to get exposure to the career I want these days, so I guess I better start reading!
3. Finally, there's not much you can do for the State Department except continuing to apply. You're only allowed to apply one a year, and my time is coming up. Having applied three or four times already, I just have to keep the faith and "hustle." It would be easy to give up, but continuing to plan out when I'm going to apply and staying on top of my application is definitely important.
One other thing is keep up with what is going on in the State Department. These days, it's pretty discouraging what's going on with diplomacy, what with policymakers choosing to move away from talking to other countries. It's made a lot of foreign service officers really frustrated, meaning that applicants are no longer applying, and those already in the State Department are leaving very frustrated. I can't do anything about that, but I can try to take advantage of the diminished applicant pool by making myself someone who's willing to work there! Well see if it pays off!
All of this is with the goal of actually starting the career that I want. I appreciated the advice, and gave me chance to reflect on what I'm doing, and how I can improve.
You know, Cheese, I was thinking about you (and about my reaction to your job situation) just the other day. I keep coming up with various ways for you to move out of the job you have now, but I remembered that you have a goal, and you've done everything you can to achieve it. You're right in not getting side-lined in the process. Stick to your final goal--I have no doubt you'll get there.l
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