“Rod, think about back when you were a little kid. It wasn’t about the money, was it? Was it?”–quote from the movie Jerry Maguire
Ah, Jerry Maguire. Still ranks as one of my top ten films of all time. The tagline for the movie is what I called this blog after. So many things in this movie apply to life. The quote above is one of the many that stand out. And it serves as a good way to open up these thoughts.
So what if . . . What if someone offered you $20 million over five years, with $16 million guaranteed, to do something you absolutely love to do? Something you’ve been doing all your life, something you’ve thrived at doing. What if this “job” would propel you to places you’ve never been, allowing you to meet your heroes and work with others who could make you better at your craft?
What if this dream came true, yet you turned it down?
This scenario is playing out with the San Francisco 49ers right now.
The 49ers picked wide receiver Michael Crabtree as the tenth player in the NFL draft back in April. APRIL. Now, as we head into the second week of the NFL season, Crabtree remains unsigned. The money I mentioned above was what the team offered him.
I don’t know enough to comment about the situation. Maybe Crabtree has legitimate reasons (like he’s allergic to the air in San Francisco or he desperately wants to be on a winning team like the Oakland Raiders or maybe the guy that shows up in his bedroom late at night dressed as a clown is telling him to holdout). I don’t know and honestly don’t care.
What baffles me is the same question that Jerry Maguire asks Rod Tidwell in the movie.
“It wasn’t about the money, was it? Was it????”
I used to think of this quote back when I worked at a publishing house in author relations, listening to the executives talk about big-name authors wanting and needing big-time contracts. It would boggle my mind. Not because of the money–if you have earned the right to get a million dollar contract, so be it. But because of the attitude some authors would take. It sometimes sounded like the only way they would ever write a book–the absolute only way–was if they signed that whopper of a contract.
As a novelist hoping to get published one day, this would make me shake my head.
It still does.
I’m a full-time novelist now, still hoping to strike it big and get my Rod Tidwell contract one day. I’m hoping for that game-winning catch that suddenly propels my stock and sends me into the bigname category. For now, I’m striving to write the best book possible, hoping to sell as many books as I can, and thankful that I’m paid to do something I love to do.
It just amazes me that talented people can get caught up in the business of their profession. This is what I see happening to Crabtree. I know the guy grew up loving football. And goodness knows he’s amazingly talented.
He’s being given an opportunity to do what he loves to do in an arena where few are chosen.
Take the deal. Do it. Remember why you love the game and forget about the money.
I don’t ever want to forget why I love the game. Why I absolutely love writing. I never want to forget how all I ever wanted to do growing up was to be a storyteller.
I get paid to do something I LOVE to do, something I’ve dreamt of doing since third grade.
What a blessed gift.
Now would I turn down a million dollar contract for something less simply because “I only write out of love and passion and blah blah?”
Of course not. (Sharon and Kylie wouldn’t let me, either. Neither would my agent!)
If I take the right idea and tell it in the right way and get it to a publisher at just the right time, sure, maybe I’ll deserve to sign the right contract.
I’m sure hoping for that. But even more I’m hoping to never let the machinery of business and money take over my love of the craft.
I have so far to go in the craft. So far.
I continue to strive to keep myself hungry and humble.
I guess sometimes when you’re incredibly talented and when you have the opportunity to hit it big time, those two words get lost amidst the hubris.
A very interesting post, Mr. Thrasher. The best part about it is your heart-on-the-sleeve love of writing, revelaed like the core of an eaten apple. I applaud you for earning a living from what you love as that is not easy to come by. I see people every single day from all walks of life with varied jobs ranging from pro athletes to street sweepers, and everything in between. And yet, sometimes the simplest jobs are the most captivating–and the highest paid are not at all emotionally rewarding,
I met a gentleman who works at housekeeping at the University of Illinois in Champaign; has for 25 years or so. Readily admits he hated his job until about 18 months ago. Why, I asked him. Until then, he explained, he was working for a retirement, he had to sling other people's trash and save money and wonder if he'd have a job every single time there was an article in the school paper about budget crunches. As of 18 months ago, thoigh, he could technically retire…he hit "retirement age". Did he retire? No. The difference: "I'm on my own terms now," he said. "I can leave at the drop of a hat–they give me guff, I'm gone. The shackles are off." Yet he cleans the same classrooms, and empties the same trash buckets as all those other years. His paradigm changed–his job is the same. I found this very interesting. And somewhat related to your wonderful post.
Don't give up your day job, Travis. Wait…your day job is writing! You are one lucky son-of-a-gun. And a talented writer, on top of it all. You have the world by the tail.
"Waste Is A Terrible Thing To Mind"