Eighty percent

Eighty percent of being successful in life is showing up.

I've quoted this Woody Allen line (from Annie Hall) before but in the shadow of Eyjafjallajoekull it's worth revisiting.

I've long held the Sydney Morning Herald to be the worst broadsheet in the world so this smug and sneering article was no surprise whatsoever: -

All those people on TV, frantically rushing from departure gate to train station to hire car vendor, remind me of a quote from a novel I once read (Margaret Atwood, perhaps?): “People will do anything rather than admit their lives have no meaning.” It turns out they’re even willing to sleep in airports.

Of course there's nothing a SMH journo enjoys more than sneering at the wage slaves.  If they're those nasty, Gaia-killing corporate traveler types then so much the better.  It doesn't occur to the writer that for many of the people she's mocking travel is as much an end as a means.  Showing up - being present at the meeting - is not a downside of the job, it is the job.  Airily declaring the meeting to be pointless doesn't change this.  Making fun of someone trying to do their job well; i.e. doing everything in their power to make the meeting, is a cheap shot.

A freelance writer who hires a taxi to get her copy to the editor when the fax and email goes down is the ultimate professional; the legend who went above and beyond to get the job done.  The habitual Business Class flier who opts to travel overnight in a 3rd Class rail carriage is an exact analogue.

Looking back I bet we'll be saying that this was the week when the understudy got her big break.  Like when the up-and-coming act got to close out the main stage.  Critics will put it down to the luck of being in the right place at the right time but in our hearts we know there's more to it than that.

No one is going to get sacked this week for missing the meeting but being the guy who did show up will count.