I've always loved to write. Even from the time I was a kid in grade school, I've loved writing and telling stories. When we would go to dinner, I would take a notepad with me and a pen, and I would write. It sounds like nerd stuff today, but I guess that was one way to pass the time before the food came, long before the iPad came along.
For some reason, I gravitated to stories of loss or stories of fear. I would write ghost stories about kids going and exploring, or I would write stories about someone dying in a friend group. There was usually a baseball player in the story somewhere since that was my sport and my world.
I don't think I've ever been a great writer. I think I can tell stories for my audience, and maybe that's all that matters. The pen has been a tool for me, for my brand, and for my thoughts to transfer. The writing skills I was blessed with have opened up doors and opportunities for me to speak, to teach, to engage, and to share.
But everyone has a pen. I don't have access to anything fancy. Everyone has the ability to tell a story, and everyone has the ability to write their story — especially when it comes to their career.
Yet so few people take advantage of this, and they leave that pen in the hands of others. I've known dozens of people who would rather be miserable than pick up the pen and write their own story. For some reason, they are waiting for everyone else to make it happen for them. They know they can do it, but taking control is harder than it sounds at times.
The truth is, writing your own story is uncomfortable because it forces you to choose. When you pick up the pen, you no longer get to blame the editor, the publisher, the market, or your manager for how the plot unfolds. You have to decide what chapter you are in and whether you are going to stay there. You have to admit when a storyline has run its course.
You have to risk writing something new that might not be perfect or might get rejected. I know that feeling. I've lived it. It is far easier to critique the script than to write it.
But the alternative is slow resentment. It is waking up every Monday feeling like a supporting character in someone else's narrative. It is telling yourself that one day, when the timing is right, when the market shifts, when your boss notices you, then you will finally get your shot. That day rarely arrives on its own. Stories move forward because someone makes a decision, not because the pages magically turn themselves.
So pick up the pen. Send the message. Have the conversation. Apply for the role. Start the side project. Leave the one that is draining you. Write the messy first draft of your next chapter and refine it as you go. Nobody else is coming to ghostwrite your career for you. And if you are going to live inside this story for the rest of your life, you might as well be the one holding the pen.