Flashback

“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”

Epicurus 

On my way into work this morning I drove past The Garden State Plaza.

There were a number of cars in the parking lot already, bringing me back to my days of setting up Halloween stores.

It's now mid-August, which would have meant that we would just about be hitting our stride.

Each season, the first couple of stores were all about getting familiar with that year's offering and regaining the muscle memory of the grind of opening 30 stores in 45 days.

I couldn't help to reflect on why I enjoyed that madness.

For me, it was about being the best at doing what very few others are capable of doing at all.

It was about having the opportunity to create 30 new spaces, each in a very short period of time.

Start a store, finish a store and move on to the next store without any down time.

It was truly organized chaos for under 2 months.

And it wasn't good enough to achieve good enough.

Excellence (not perfection) was the rule of thumb.

Attention to detail was every bit as important as getting the job done.

Often these 2 things were contrary to each other.

No matter though.

One could not be sacrificed for the other.

These were exhausting times.

I dare say, there is no way I could do that kind of work again.

Somehow, in that time and space, it seemed perfectly normal to me.

I can't say that I miss it.

I do know that it played a huge part in making me who I am and how I think.

It's probably why the thought of retiring and chasing a golf ball around for a few hours each day is so foreign to me.

It helps explain my need for constantly searching for my next challenge.

Shabbat Shalom!