Know Thyself and Act — Why Choices that Serve Your Best Interests are Not Selfish

Friday I made one the most significant and difficult choices I’ve made in the past decade — if not longer. On July 10, 2008, I began a working for Steelehouse Productions on a full-time trial basis, and on September 10 of that year I accepted an offer as a full-time video editor and motion designer. It wasn’t long before I realized I didn’t have what it takes to be a motion designer, and that I was working with a driven team that was going to challenge me in other areas. I had graduated in May of that year with a four-year degree in Mass Media Communication/Multimedia Production. I learned video, audio, web design, and writing, but once out of the college bubble I realized that knowing a little bit of everything is the equivalent to knowing a lot about nothing when you lack self-awareness.
Graduation, 2008

What I did learn was that the most valuable asset, more important than who you know, is a solid work ethic combined with the ability to be a self-motivated learner. Being a great networker is simply a popularity contest unless you are able to provide enduring, mutually beneficial value. Forming authentic relationships is not the same as growing professional networks, and it is authentic relationships that got me the job at Steelehouse and have continued to open the doors of opportunity.

I remember calling Steelehouse the week I was set to begin salaried employment. It was 2008 and the middle of the economic collapse. One of the clients that would be providing the majority of the work I was to be assigned had significantly scaled back the scope of their project, yet Steelehouse followed through and brought me on. Since day one, I observed, listened, and sought out the areas where I could provide value to the company. More than that though, I didn’t do it for a faceless company, I did it for the individuals that compose Steelehouse — the team of which I was a part.

When I saw a need I would fulfill it in order to make myself invaluable. Some of these needs were in areas which I already possessed skills, while others challenged me to sharpen existing or learn entirely new skills. Over the past eight and a half years I observed both the primary client-base of Steelehouse, my coworkers, and my primary role shift multiple times. I learned to adapt and be useful in new ways while learning more about myself and how I am hardwired. I learned that self-awareness has a greater return on investment than pushing toward goals that one does not possess an innate endowment of the abilities required to succeed. Sure, I could learn motion design, but I will never call myself a motion designer, nor do I want to. Learning is not the same as being.

I also learned that comfort is often a euphemism for complacency. As a 30 year old with no family depending on me to provide a steady income, I am able to absorb risks that I may not be able to in the future, and at this stage of my life, comfort is not my ally. Adaptability has more value than being robust. Being adaptable applies not just to employment over a span of time for a company, but also to the broad span of a lifetime. Being able to adapt and reinvent is the key to true stability. Stability and comfort evoke the same feelings, but at their core are very different. As one of my favorite thinkers, Derek Sivers, has said, “The best option is the option that gives you more options.” — that’s stability.

The adaptability provided by being a self-motivated learner has its benefits, but also led me to an identity crisis. I eventually realized that my strength is in my diversity of interests and skills and that “Jack of all trades, master of none” is a misnomer. Knowledge and ability across a range of skills provides more stability than relying on a single specialty. However, even with that perspective I was not only asking “Who am I?”, but also “Are my actions defining me as I want to be identified?” Over the past three years I’ve gradually seen two circles of identity emerge. Some people know me for my video production work while others know me for The Humble Garnish.

Many on the video production end only know that I’m a cocktail enthusiast and are unaware of the website, while those who don’t know that I’m a shooter and editor assume that The Humble Garnish is my primary source of income. Reality has become a balance of those two perspectives — a Venn diagram with my true identity in the center.

What it came down to was not simply the knowledge that I am in control of my own path, but the realization that there isn’t one correct career path. Imagine a park bench with a view of a pond. Some days the view and the weather is pleasant, but other days it might be the ugliest area in the park. Most important to note is that the view from the bench is predetermined by the location where it is placed. Anyone sitting at the bench knows it will be there even if it’s thunder storming or snowing. While the bench may experience weather over various seasons, there is an element of comfort and stability in knowing that it will remain. There may be inclement weather, but over time the experience on the bench is predictable and safe. Sitting at that bench and enjoying the view is a perfectly acceptable choice, but you are locked into doing so at that location and only during the park’s open hours.

Now instead of a bench imagine a Greyhound bus. That bus can take you anywhere, the view is always changing, the temperature inside can be adjusted to your liking, and, if you’re lucky, some friends board along the way. This analogy isn’t the cliché “It’s about the journey…” adage, it’s about the realization of the ability to choose either the bus that takes you where you are going or the bench that is already where you want to be. Both are choices, each with their own consequences.

Ultimately, the realization that has led me to my choice is based around self-awareness and understanding that making a choice that is in my self-interest is not a selfish act. The choice itself has consequences, but it’s the intent and execution that determine whether they are positive or negative, selfless or selfish. I don’t know exactly what the year ahead will hold, but I do know that it will be very different than anything I’ve done in the past. I know that long-standing relationships will evolve while new ones emerge, and just as diversity of skill creates stability, so does interdependence on relationships past, present, and future. Knowledge of my aptitudes and realization of my desires is of no benefit if I don’t take action, and at this time I know this choice is personally the option that opens up more options. This choice is in my best interest because it will be a season of challenges and unknowns, but ultimately it will move me to a place where I’m reaching more potential, and as a result better able to serve the interests of others.

– Andrew

“In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices.” — Epictetus