Hell Yes

Before my current gig, I worked at another university on a one-year appointment. Just a year, filling in for someone who had left unexpectedly. Throughout that year, my approach was to say “yes” to everything… to be indispensable, to be everywhere.

I had a lot to prove.

I was, in fact, doing the opposite of some of the worst advice I had received in my previous job: keep your head down. Maybe that’s why I had to take the new, temporary position. But now, I wanted to impress them. I enjoyed this community. I wanted to stay.

As one meeting was ending, short-timers like me were excused so the senior faculty could talk about the search for a new prof… a permanent hire, actually, to replace temporary me.

As several others started to leave, I leaned over to one of the more senior faculty members and whispered “do you think I can stay for this?”

And his voice filled the room.

“Hell, yes!”

Those two words still warm my heart. I was wanted. I belonged.

I stayed.

Well. Plot twist ahead:

As it turns out, I didn’t stay. They decided to find someone with a different specialty than mine. My time there was coming to an end.

So it goes.

My questions to you:

Have you ever been personally inspired, not just by a quote or a book, but by someone who believed in you, like my colleague did that day?

Share your story!

More on this tomorrow. See you then.