15 Minutes

Kayaking the Five Great Lakes in Five Days created exposure for the event I was promoting, as intended, but also generated my own 15 minutes of fame. Again. I’ve been “famous” before in other genres.

Not a huge deal for me. It might be different if it was the kind of fame that brings tens of millions of dollars, but it’s never been like that and I’m not sure even that would make much difference. My view is that whatever earned you the notoriety happened because who you are as opposed to you being something because of the accomplishment. In other words, you’re the same person you are the morning after as the morning before. If you’re happy with that, you’re happy with or without the recognition.

Not that there’s no satisfaction at all from that. The “public” may be awed by the press clippings but your peers understand the true nature. When you hear from them, it carries some weight.

You do hear from a lot of people. Perhaps the largest group is those jumping on the bandwagon. Every time I’ve hit it big, I’m contacted by my “best friends” who I haven’t heard from in years. “I knew you had it in you.” “That’s the guy I know and love.” Blah, blah, blah. That’s okay, as long as you understand they’ll be the first to jump off when the wagon loses speed or goes off the road.

A related segment is those who see an opportunity to leverage you for their own benefit. I had one equipment manufacturer offer me a small amount to appear in his ads when he saw the media coverage (he had declined being a sponsor up front). I countered saying I would do the ads without the fee if he gave the people in my paddling club a 25% discount for the next year. He’d win with the free endorsement and the additional business. Apparently, he’s not a fan of win-win propositions, so I won’t collaborate with him. On the other hand, someone who had previously given my friends a discount offered me a fee to appear on his web site and I agreed to do it for free.

Joe loosely fits into this genre. He emailed me a job offer. That brought a smile. He did the same thing about 20 years ago and I haven’t heard from him since. At the time, I had written a column about something I set out to do on a whim that didn’t approach the magnitude of this venture. I related how all kinds of unanticipated obstacles cropped up and I was tempted to bail out. But dammit, I started it and I was going to finish it.

Joe called with an attractive job offer. I told him he didn’t even know me. He said he read every line of the column three times and knew I was exactly the type of person he wanted running his company. I politely declined then and now. Maybe in another 20 years.

A much smaller group is the naysayers who are intent upon minimizing the significance of what you achieve. I’m always amazed that they don’t realize how transparent it is that they’re revealing much more about themselves than their targets. I pity those who endure their miserable lives viewing the world through that prism.

I value most those close to you who don’t treat you any differently, a tacit acknowledgement that you haven’t had your head turned and they would expect no less. My favorite was the night after I got home from the trip and went to celebrate with a friend. She opened the door and I said, “Well, I did it.”

Her response, “Did you remember to pick up the cat litter on your way over?”