My Month as Editor for the3six5

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I was one busy guy during the month of July. Aside from weekly contributions to my new collaborative blog, The Today Voice, I also acted as the July editor for the3six5. The 3six5 is a daily diary-like blog in which a different writer blogs about the events of the current day. Their entry, along with 364 others, will serve as a collective snapshot of 2012 by years end.

I became affiliated with the3six5 when I signed up to write the May 11th diary entry, in which I blogged about my experience as a volunteer mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. While I was more than happy to participate as a writer on my assigned day, I was even more thrilled when I was offered the opportunity to act as editor for the month of July. My editor duties meant that I got to work with thirty-one passionate writers from the United States, as well as other places like London and Indonesia.

Now that my editing job is over, I have a newfound respect for what it takes to manage a daily blog, and I commend anyone who does it on a full time basis.

If you are not already familiar with the3six5, I encourage you to check out some of my favorite entries from the month of July. Perhaps they may even inspire you to enlist to write one yourself later this year.

July 7th: Chip Humitz

Chip’s account of the “in-between” state he was in during the last day of vacation hit on a personal note for me. It was nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles with trying to find the right balance between work, play and more work.

July 14th: Brian Gallagher

I found Brian’s entry to be humorous. It made me laugh, and I like to laugh. If you like to laugh you may want to check this one out.

July 22nd: Jason Fox

I enjoyed reading Jason’s post about his wife and kids. Although I am not a father myself, I could relate to his sentiments regarding his family. All in all, it was a really good entry from a really nice guy. As a side note, Jason was not the original writer for this day. He acted as the backup writer after the author who originally enlisted was suddenly unavailable to write. I was impressed and thankful for how quickly he was able to pull through at the last minute.

P.S. Speaking of collaborations, today is Wednesday, which means I have posted new content on my Today Voice blog. This week’s theme is to write about my most embarrassing moment. I welcome you to read and comment here.

What I Learned from the Olympics

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Have you ever made a dumb mistake? It’s not a great feeling when you do, no matter the time or place, but at least when it happens at home the people surrounding you are more apt to forgive and may end up becoming a part of the solution. The same cannot always be said when the mistake occurs at work. This recently happened to me. And when I say it was a dumb mistake, I mean dumb. When you mess up so badly that you find yourself sitting in a conference room with your boss, her boss, her boss’s boss, and her boss’s boss’s boss…. you know you’ve really gone and messed up.

This year is a busy season for me and my coworkers, and mistakes are bound to happen when you put in as many hours and juggle as many responsibilities as we do, but there is never an excuse powerful enough to override the energy it took from my entire department to cram the correction of several months’ work into one weekend. As bad as it could have been, my employer and coworkers were very gracious and sympathetic. I cannot tell you how many times I pinched myself because I am not sure that if it were my employee who made the mistake, that I could’ve handled it with the integrity and patience that they did. Despite their better than expected attitude, each time I observed the added stress and worry that it brought upon our already small staff and full schedule, it made me feel like crawling under my desk to hide.

Last weekend, after pulling a long shift (and biting my nails over the whole ordeal), I returned home and turned on the TV because I was tired of listening to my own thoughts. I had nearly forgotten that the London Olympic games were in full swing, and so I was happy when I discovered that I had something to take my mind off of everything that had transpired. While I was watching men’s gymnastics, I found myself empathizing the guys whenever one of them missed their mark. How embarrassing it must be to not only fall short of your own expectations, but to let your team, and your country down as well; and on national television to say the least.

My job isn’t awe inspiring enough to be considered an official olympic sport, but I could definitely relate in some small way to how they must’ve felt, as I could not help but to be disappointed in myself after discovering that I had failed to live up to my own standard of excellence. Ironically, after a less-than-perfect routine, whenever a gymnast returned to the sidelines, he was always greeted by his fellow teammates with a pat on the back as they ensured “I’ve got your back”.

I realized at that moment that this was exactly the way in which my coworkers had approached the situation at work. It was also the first time that I truly understood what it felt like to be a part of a team. I also realized that a large reason for the knots in my stomach was because I had become overly concerned about how the mistake would affect my standing at work. I realized that if my department were to pull through as single unit, I would have to stop feeling sorry for myself and work harder than I ever have to be a part of the solution. That, like an injured olympian, I would have to steady my focus and work through the pain, summoning up the strength to press on, not for self-glory, but because I have a team of people depending on nothing less.

Has something like this ever happened to you? How did you handle it?