Life lessons from the Emmy awards. And cupcakes!

Last night, just like we do every year, my husband and I watched the Emmys (well, this year we took a break in the middle to watch Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad > Emmys). And, just like we do every year, my husband and I bet on who would win awards. Although this year, since our printer still isn’t hooked up and the app I downloaded sucked, my husband hand wrote the ballot and we made our selections with a highlighter. The fun part about that was the fact that my husband has atrocious handwriting and is careless with his spelling so when I was making my picks, I had to ask him who Juan Baton and Jom Parsnip were (Jason Bateman and Jim Parsons, respectively).

But that’s besides the point.

Also besides the point but something I need to share is that I won our bet. We don’t bet money, either. We bet something way more important. Crumbs cupcakes. If you’ve never had a Crumbs cupcake, send me your address and I’ll have one mailed to you because the cupcakes are amazing and the company does that kind of stuff. I assure you that once you have one, you’ll understand why our bet was so serious. And why it’s such a big deal that I won.

Jana’s note: Please do not actually send me your address. I’m pretty disorganized when it comes to that stuff and I don’t want to misplace your information that would be on my list of people to whom I  need to send Crumbs cupcakes and have the list picked up by an actual serial killer and then he comes to your house because he, too, wants a cupcake and then it’s my fault if something happens to you. I don’t want something to happen to you. Or for it to be my fault.

I think this post is getting away from me a little bit.

Let’s circle back.

Last night, my husband and I watched the Emmys. And just like 2 years ago (go easy on me with that post, please. It was written not long after I started blogging and really, I kind of sucked as a writer and blogger back then. I’m only slightly better now), I learned some things from watching the show that were completely unexpected and important lessons we can apply to our own lives:

• Brevity. Last night, one of the winner’s made this speech: “I gotta go. Bye”. Social media erupted, praising Merritt Weaver for her amazing speech because really, there was nothing else to say. Her speech captured the moment perfectly. It was short and to the poing. Not so much sweet, but short and to the point. What we can learn: sometimes, saying just a few words has more impact  than droning on for minutes or hours. How many times have you sat in a meeting and your boss or co-worker just kept talking and talking and lost her audience? How many times have you read an email that was just so long winded your eyes glazed over halfway through and you forgot what you read in the beginning? Probably too many to count. So, the next time you’re in a position to communicate something important, remember that brevity and conciseness go a long way.
• You won’t always impress everyone. Neil Patrick Harris hosted this year’s show and after seeing what he did with the Tonys that one year I watched because American Idiot was nominated and I wanted to see if it won, I, and probably millions of others, had very high hopes for him as a host. And honestly, I didn’t love what he did. He kind of flopped a bit at times. But that’s fine. Maybe I expected too much. What we can learn: Not everyone will love what you do all the time. You may think you’re doing a great job but there may be expectations that are so high they’re almost impossible to reach and then, inevitably, people will be disappointed. Let it go. Don’t worry about them. It’s one thing to accept their criticism and use it to improve. It’s another to let it destroy your confidence.
• Awards aren’t the only validation for success. Every year, there are disappointments. Every year, there are some actors nominated and they never win. Yet when you watch what they do, it doesn’t stop them from doing incredible work or receiving consistent critical acclaim. It doesn’t stop them from having legions of fans. What we can learn: Even if you never win an award for your work, don’t let that stop you from consistently doing the absolute best that you can. Whether it seems like it or not, there are people who take notice and to them, your efforts mean everything. They are the people you need to keep working for, not those who give out awards.

With that said, I’ve gotta go. I have a cupcake to pick out.