Buy Your Own Rolex
I posted earlier about not making it to my 25th anniversary with my company, and not getting a lavish lunch and stainless steel Rolex such as they used to do back in the day. Not sure if they still do this even.
As I was driving in for my exit interview, the thought came to me:
You can buy your own Rolex.
I took this celestial news flash as a metaphor, not a literal command. (My family reads this blog, they’d have had me on speed dial by the time you read this.) It’s just that, more and more in life, I learn I cannot look outside myself for: validation, recognition, approval, rewards, et al.
Years ago one of my wonderful IBM mentors, Ms. Cheryl Buckner, shared this mantra with me (based on the infamous Bartles & James wine coolers commercial) :
“Sometimes,I have to go buy my own Bartles & James and thank me for my support.”
So if I can share this one thing with those out there who are smarting from the sting of a layoff: Go find a way to thank you for your support. Of your team, company, agency, plant, whatever.
Buy your own Rolex.
EDITOR’s NOTE: Mine will be white gold with diamonds and the Havana jubiliee face, thank you very much. One day…one day.
You’ve got it right on the money! Since I was a kid in the ’60s I have wanted a Rolex Submariner dive watch. A couple years ago I started hinting to my wife that with my 50th birthday coming up, it was a REALLY good time to buy me my long-awaited Rolex as a gift. As my birthday gets nearer, my lovely bride has made it abundantly clear that I’m not getting a $6,000 watch for my birthday. So…I bought one for mySELF! Cash. I sold some high-end musical equipment I have in my studio that I haven’t used in several years AND I sold my 25-yr old Omega Speedmaster. In less than 2 weeks, I had enough cash to buy the limited edition, green bezel, 50th Anniversary Rolex Submariner….and with my 50th birthday just 3 weeks away…this beautiful Swiss chronometer is already on my wrist, and I LOVE IT. I don’t blame my wife, she was being financially responsible and I love her for that. I got motivated, because sometimes literally and metaphorically, you have to “BUY YOUR OWN ROLEX”.
So I did. Cheers!
Submariner in Maine
January 26, 2009 at 4:55 pm