WHO IS MY CAREER ROLE
MODEL?
by Ace Collins
I was recently asked who was my career role model? I know
the person who tossed that question my way certainly expected my answer to
spotlight one of a few thousand bestselling, award-winning authors that I have
followed and read over the years. Yet, my response likely created a bit of
shock and surprise as I cited not a Twain, Hemmingway or Cussler, but rather a
product of the famed Warner Bros. Studios and it wasn’t even a human. My role
model was either born or created, that depends upon your viewpoint, on
September 17, 1949. Much more than any writer I know, it is Wile E. Coyote who possesses
the attributes needed by every author.
Wile E. is first and foremost inventive. He is constantly
coming up fresh ideas to achieve his goals. He simply doesn’t stick to the same
formula, but rather learns from his mistakes and moves forward with new
approaches. He is not afraid of technology, but instead sees it as offering new
and better ways of becoming more productive. He is therefore not stuck in the
past but lives on the cutting edge.
Next Wile E. has such a strong desire to succeed that it
allows him to overlook the obvious odds against him. Where others give up, he
surges forward. He never takes his eye off the prize or allows a few failures
to cause him to shift his career goals. He ultimately believes he will succeed.
Though Wile E. lives a fairly solitary existence that does
not prevent him from consulting others as he looks to expand his knowledge and expertise.
He not only seeks out the advice of the folks at Acme, but he had an extensive
library that includes such works as How
To Build a Burmese Tiger Trap, Hunting Birds, The History of Speed and How To Sail. In other words, he does
his homework, he constantly studies and expands his mind and he is not afraid
of teaming with others to reach his goals.
But maybe the most important thing I have learned from Wile
E. is to never give up. He believes in his quest to the point where nothing
will stop him. Therefore he will take risks that would seem completely
illogical to a mathematical mind knowing that those risks often provide the
greatest rewards and the best chance of finding true satisfaction. So he
doesn’t see rejection as a sign of failure, but just another challenge to be
addressed.
Anyone in the creative field is apt to experience far more
failure than success. We crash and burn much more than those who stick to the
normal routes through life. Yet if we truly believe in our message then we
press forward because we feel our stories are worth all the pain experienced in
trying to get them to the public. In other words, we are like that coyote who
is constantly trying to capture the prize; even a lifetime of rejections can’t
keep us from continuing to do what we feel called to do. And neither should a
few rejections keep you from your calling either!
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