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Transcript

Because I Asked · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, thanks for joining me for today's episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was a college professor for 17 years before I became a full-time writer.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first 10 years that I worked as a professor, I also directed our music program and ran our twice-weekly chapel services.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, to be clear, I really enjoyed my job and I loved working with students.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Students are always my favorite part of the job.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: But at the 10-year mark, I honestly just hit a wall.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was really tired of teaching the same courses over and over and dealing with all the administrative responsibilities of running a growing music program.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I did something that nobody at that college had ever done before.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I proposed that they create a brand new position for me where I could teach courses related to writing, storytelling, communications, and film.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now it took a year or two for this idea to become a reality because the academic world moves kind of slowly.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But eventually the college leadership approved the change.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: They hired somebody new to lead the music program, and I got to teach courses that I enjoyed much more than what I had been doing for a long time.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: When everything was official, our academic dean called me into his office and he said, Hey, what do you want your new title to be?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because neither of us had really talked about that.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought for a minute and I said, How about professor of communication arts?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he liked that title and it stuck.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: However, not everybody was happy with this change.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: During one of our faculty meetings around this time, we were talking about a new elective film course that I had been proposing.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And another one of the professors said in kind of a sarcastic tone, Why do you get to teach all the fun courses?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just smiled and said, because I asked.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've thought a lot about that little exchange over the years, many times, because it sums up my whole career philosophy, which is build the life and career that you want on your terms.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I've made a lot of mistakes over the years, but I've really tried to consistently work toward building a writing career that fits my life instead of the other way around.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're unhappy with your current situation, whatever it is, I want to encourage you that you shouldn't assume that you're just stuck.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the first step is just asking.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's asking for the opportunity.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's asking for the meeting.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's asking the question, or it's asking for what you want.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now the answer might be no, but you'll never hear yes if you never ask in the first place.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So what are you afraid to ask for?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I genuinely would love to hear.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So you can shoot me an email and let me know.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: My email is Kent at KentSanders.net.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for today.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next time.