The Bottom Line

Someone commented recently that they enjoy how I mix life and writing and writing and life in my essays. I too enjoy this, though if I step back from writing as a whole, I don’t know how not to see it as just another part of life, no different than marriage or baking bread or working out. Ultimately all these separate aspects and activities flow together because I do all of them, and no matter what I’m doing, I’m human. I don’t stop being a person just because I’m writing.

I thought of this recently when I interviewed the mindfulness and business guru Marc Lesser for my upcoming podcast. We were talking about how useful mindfulness practices are in the business world and how interested many executives are in applying these principals to their workplace. I admit I’m always a little surprised and delighted when I hear how Google engineers or Boeing project managers enjoy learning how to communicate consciously with their coworkers. It’s easy for me to see the business world as a hard environment concerned more with the unforgiving bottom line than anything else.

I’m sure many businesses do indeed suffer from this perspective, just the same as many writers suffer from measuring themselves based on their latest sales. Yet employees don’t stop being human beings when they step through their office doors. They don’t stop wanting to feel connected and peaceful and useful and valued. They don’t stop wanting to love and be loved. All of that courses through us every moment of every day, driving us and motivating us whether we are aware of it or not.

It's certainly true while I’m writing. Even as I’m crafting my next essay or book, I still want to feel interested and engaged and joyful. I don’t want to worry or doubt or feel hopeless. Fortunately, the best way to write successfully is to find a story I’m interested and engaged in telling. I am never more joyful than when I am creating in this way. The worst way to write a story is to worry that it’s not good enough, or doubt that I can tell it. I’m always left hopeless when I create in this way. My humanity remains my guide, reminding me with every breath I take of the only bottom line that will ever matter.

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com