Red Letter Days v. Accretion

Life is slow in consultingland at the moment.  After a massively travel-heavy first ten weeks 2010 has slowed down dramatically.  I hesitate to say alarmingly.  It's the usual combination of postponed meetings, a decrease in the speed of clients' email replies and a consequent upsurge in my tendency to look for Red Letter Days. 

Human nature to attaches significance to points in time.  Every well-told story has its then-one-day moment.  We celebrate anniversaries and birthdays to reinforce this significance.  When my To Do List shortens I find myself combing my diary for upcoming events that I can turn into these Red Letter Days; high-stakes moments when I have to 'bring my A-game'.

After twenty years you'd think I'd know better.  We can celebrate success any way we want but rarely is it achieved in one fell swoop.  It is accreted.

accrete [v] grow by accumulation or coalescence

It is the days spent drafting and redrafting whatever it is you're writing and nights performing in unnoticed venues.  It is the expectation that a decent client base will be built over years not months.  It requires a combination of experience and circumspection.

That's not to say that Red Letter Days don't occur or that they aren't important when they do.  We have to bring our A-games to the job interview, the pitch to clients or investors, the presentation to the senior management team or why bother showing up at all?  But we can overemphasise their importance; if a Red Letter Day is all about downside then not enough has been accreted beforehand.