There is much acclaim for those who show up. Cal Ripken, Jr. played in every baseball game from 1982 to 1998. Woody Allen makes a new movie every year. He recently told the Wall Street Journal how he handles the flops: “If it’s a disaster it won’t ruin anything, because I’ll already be working on the next.”
While Woody is not a model exemplar for dating and Cal’s career batting average was well under .300, they persisted by not allowing the bad review or the subpar season to break their stride. Many of my clients get sidetracked after a bad date or two. Dating is not filmmaking. Dating is not baseball. However, the showing up after the “disaster” is fairly important.
There is a fear that the next date will be a flop as well, and it very well might be. However, why not keep showing up? Cal showed up enough to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame. Woody persisted enough to bring us Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris, thirty years apart and with Anything Else (I haven’t heard of it either) and Melinda and Melinda in between.
Woody turned 78 Sunday. I’m glad he keeps ‘working on the next.’
I would love to hear your thoughts. Please email me at brooke@wisematchmaking.com.