|
Hey, here's your Weekly Rx. It's time to face the music.
Words Worth Keeping
"You won!"
— A friend of mine, on a bar napkin, early 2000s.
Full confession: not the original napkin. I rewrote it. The two words are exact.
This Week
Early 2000s. Yet another audition, this one for principal trumpet with the Charleston Symphony. The usual suspects were there, and one of them was a good friend of mine, there for the same job.
I won it. He didn't advance out of the prelims.
We went straight to a bar. But it was a strange drink to be having. I had just taken the job he came for, and now he had to sit next to that and smile. Happy for me, gutted for himself, both at the same time.
He didn't make a speech. He didn't force a toast. He grabbed a napkin, wrote two words, folded it, and slid it down the bar.
You won!
That was it. That's how he handled his own disappointment and celebrated his friend in one move, and neither of us had to say the hard part out loud.
I kept that napkin for years. And for the record, I've been on his side of that bar a lot more often than mine.
The Prescription
That napkin taught me two things. One points outward, one points inward.
First, for the person who didn't win: be that friend. When someone you trained alongside gets the job and you go home empty, celebrate them anyway. Out loud. For real. Not the tight smile. The honest version, stung and glad at the same time. That's not weakness. That's character, and it's the hardest rep there is.
Second, and this one took me years to actually believe: a win for one is a win for everybody. When someone in your circle breaks through, they just proved the door can actually open. I wasn't some naturally gifted trumpet player. I was no rock star at that audition. But I was prepared, and I got lucky that day. That's the whole secret, and it should make a friend's win read as proof, not poison. If it's possible for them, it's possible for you.
Let me say that again. If it's possible for them, it's possible for you.
So the next time the envy shows up, and it will, don't bury it and don't let it rot. Read it as proof. Then find your version of the napkin. Say the true thing. And take everything that stung and put it straight into your next preparation cycle.
A win for one is proof it can be done.
Who slid you the napkin? Or who did you slide it to? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
Happy practicing,
Chris @ Honesty Pill Coaching
Something land? Something miss? Hit reply. I read them.
| 
