After doing a little reflecting tonight I came to the thought that the News Industry at least from what I have experienced of it in my 12 years in the business is really like the reality game called Survivor.
You start off by joining a tv station and there's a pretty good chance that you no nobody there. Sometimes you are lucky and know one person or two but for the most part you don't. You start off your time at your new station trying to get a feel for everyone and figuring out who you should make an alliance with. Sometimes at your station this first alliance that you are in can make you or break you. This alliance might be the one that carries you through for the rest of your time at your station or it might break up leaving you to once again be a person trying to find his place on the island.
In any tv station you have your leaders. They are the ones that dictate the daily events that will take place. You have your hunters, these are the ones that go after that new client or that new story. You have your gatherers, these folks are the ones that try to make sure the station has everything it needs to keep functioning.
Random challenges can act as your reward challenges. If you are successful in completing your task or beating your rivals you receive accolades usually in the form of higher ratings, maybe even awards. Sometimes though if you lose a couple of times too many your own team starts to implode. People start plotting about who to vote off the island. Who's time has come up for their torch to be extinguished.
This is where your alliance is so important. If you made an alliance with the stronger/smarter people then you might just survive the news industry. Sometimes you have to turn on a weaker alliance in order to better your own situation. You suffer the consequences and your old alliance no longer speaks to you, secretly plots against your or just acts as if you are dead to them.
In the end though how you play the game of working in the News Industry is up to you. At the end of the day and the end of your career you have to look yourself in the mirror. Did the decisions you make work out for the best? Are you proud of what you have done? Would you do it all over again?
For me I'm still on the island. I am enjoying my time there and I don't know if I really have Outwitted, Outlasted or Outplayed the competition. In the end even though I have made my fair share of mistakes in the game I have definitely made a lot of great alliances and can look back fondly on all of my time that I have spent in TV so far. Despite the ups and downs I will continue to play the game...
Not every decision I made was for the best. I learned from those times... sometimes it took the mistake happening more than once but eventually I learned. I'm not necessarily proud of what I have done especially early in my career. I have to say though that youth definitely was a factor. With age has come wisdom. As for if I had the chance would I do it all over again? Well if I hadn't done everything that I had done even the bad things who knows if I would have ended up here? So yes there are some things I would have loved to change but overall I'm happy to be where I'm at.
There are some really great people in the TV industry, sometimes you really just have to dig deeper in order to find the really good ones. Sometimes they are diamonds in the rough like myself...it takes a little time and a little work to see us shine.
Sometimes you just have to get people off the island and when they're not playing the game anymore you see that they are really great people. You will always share a bond whether you are still on the island or if you have left and got back to the mainland.... That bond is you were crazy and brave enough to play the game called TV Industry Survivor.... and if you are reading this and you work in TV or worked in TV then you truly are a Survivor. That is something that no one can take away from you!
(Now if this blog truly made no sense to you, then I really do understand and sympathize! There is some hidden comments in here that some might figure out and others might not.... I guess that's why I call the blog "Indirectly to the Point!")
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Next Chapter: Moving On In Las Vegas
About a week ago I put my status on facebook as "Shawn is moving on..." there were some people that asked about this... What did it mean? Am I really leaving? Do I have a new job someplace?
For me the "is moving on" was referencing the song "I'm Movin' On" by Rascal Flatts. One of the verses is "....I've been trapped in the past for too long, I'm Moving On....." another one is "I've lived in this place and I know all the faces...each one is different but they're always the same. They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it. They'll never allow me to change."
As anyone who has followed this blog or my life well knows, I have had my issues. I am the worlds worst gambler, never won anything near what I have lost. I have what doctor's call a little bit of a weight problem. I used to be quite the drinker and the party person but I think about the consequences of losing control and the heavy drinking is no longer appealing. I have loved and lost, sometimes I just would say when it comes to the game of love I'm eternally lost.
It has reached the point in my life where I realize that I'm not the same person that I was even just a year ago. I have goals that I want to achieve and it seems that right now I keep getting dragged back to trying to be the person I once was. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel good.
I feel it's time for me to broaden my horizons. To reach out to those that truly know me best and bring those friends closer to me. There are some friends that I need to just keep at a distance for a while...they are great people but just not right for me at this time. I need to change and I feel like with them around I cannot.
I think I'm also developing a new philosophy for my life at this point. "Living for the moments"....
That philosophy is when you are at an event or doing something with the people that matter the most to you and everything just seems to be going right. Things may have had there up and down swings leading up to the moment, but when you have finally reached the "moment". You realize that everything is perfect. I have recently experienced one of those "perfect moments" and I was so ecstatic it was the greatest feeling I have had in a long time.
So I'm going to start working harder to make sure I have more of those moments or at least give myself a chance to have more opportunities at having another one. Nothing can happen when you keep your trueself locked up and hidden away in a nice sized one bedroom apartment. Life is what's happening outside your door and you're missing out on it.
"I'm moving on....at last I can see. Life has been patienting waiting for me. And I know there's no guarantees but I'm not alone. There comes a time in everyone's life. When all you can see are the years passing by. And I have made up my mind that those days are gone."
For me the "is moving on" was referencing the song "I'm Movin' On" by Rascal Flatts. One of the verses is "....I've been trapped in the past for too long, I'm Moving On....." another one is "I've lived in this place and I know all the faces...each one is different but they're always the same. They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it. They'll never allow me to change."
As anyone who has followed this blog or my life well knows, I have had my issues. I am the worlds worst gambler, never won anything near what I have lost. I have what doctor's call a little bit of a weight problem. I used to be quite the drinker and the party person but I think about the consequences of losing control and the heavy drinking is no longer appealing. I have loved and lost, sometimes I just would say when it comes to the game of love I'm eternally lost.
It has reached the point in my life where I realize that I'm not the same person that I was even just a year ago. I have goals that I want to achieve and it seems that right now I keep getting dragged back to trying to be the person I once was. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel good.
I feel it's time for me to broaden my horizons. To reach out to those that truly know me best and bring those friends closer to me. There are some friends that I need to just keep at a distance for a while...they are great people but just not right for me at this time. I need to change and I feel like with them around I cannot.
I think I'm also developing a new philosophy for my life at this point. "Living for the moments"....
That philosophy is when you are at an event or doing something with the people that matter the most to you and everything just seems to be going right. Things may have had there up and down swings leading up to the moment, but when you have finally reached the "moment". You realize that everything is perfect. I have recently experienced one of those "perfect moments" and I was so ecstatic it was the greatest feeling I have had in a long time.
So I'm going to start working harder to make sure I have more of those moments or at least give myself a chance to have more opportunities at having another one. Nothing can happen when you keep your trueself locked up and hidden away in a nice sized one bedroom apartment. Life is what's happening outside your door and you're missing out on it.
"I'm moving on....at last I can see. Life has been patienting waiting for me. And I know there's no guarantees but I'm not alone. There comes a time in everyone's life. When all you can see are the years passing by. And I have made up my mind that those days are gone."
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