I Think I've Found My Happy Place

Reprinted from Seth Godin's Blog.  Check the original post here: 
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/08/end-of-summer-book-roundup.html

If this is true...I'm all in.

I came across this blog post by Seth Godin a few days ago and was instantly inspired.  When I first read the title, I thought it was going to be a post about why authors should be more competitive with each other. Jaded, right? However, once I started reading, I was very pleasantly surprised.  

The post appealed to me because at most of the jobs I've had, I've been faced with a decision: be myself or morph into this corporatized beast who will stab, maim and kill to get "ahead". People I respect and trust have told me that I should always be myself just "not at work." At work, it's okay to be deceptive, its understandable if you lie and above all, do what(ever) you have to do to put yourself in front of someone else. To me, that attitude is the exact recipe for ensuring that nothing good will happen for you.  

When I dropped my daughter off at Penn State last weekend I took a picture of a quote by Joe Paterno that I loved.  It says "Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good." To me, that quote is exemplified in Seth's post and I hope its true of this new world I'm about to enter.  I need to be around people who feel that way and most importantly behave that way.  

With this new venture, I'm hoping to be a part of a working world where people don't feel the need to hog everything for themselves.  Where competitors are confident and satisfied enough to be happy for each other.  Of course I want my book to be successful, but that doesn't have to mean that I want someone else's to not be.  It just feels ungrateful. There's enough everything for everyone and me trying to get more than my share isn't good for any of us.  

The bottom line is that I want my success to taste like rainbows, lollipops and sprinkles.  What about you?  Have you ever been in an environment that made you feel you couldn't be true to yourself? How did you handle it? Have you noticed a sense of camaraderie among writers?