Okay, let me walk you through how things kinda played out for me, leading to what I guess you could call my ‘consolation game’. It wasn’t planned, not at all, just sorta happened.
The Big Push
So, a few years back, I was all in on this project at my old job. I mean, really all in. Long hours, weekends, the whole nine yards. We were gunning for this huge contract, the kind that could make or break our little division. Everyone felt the pressure, but we were also excited, you know? Thought we were playing in the big leagues, aiming for the championship.
I did everything I could think of:
- Put together presentations until my eyes blurred.
- Coordinated with teams that barely talked to each other.
- Skipped lunches, stayed late, basically lived in the office.
- Really believed we had the winning formula.
The Fall
Well, spoiler alert: we didn’t get it. Lost out to a bigger competitor. Man, that stung. It felt like all that effort, all those sacrifices, were for nothing. The air just went out of the balloon. Management tried to spin it, talk about lessons learned, but mostly, it just felt like a massive L. I felt pretty down, like I’d fumbled on the goal line.
Picking Up Something Different
After the dust settled, things changed. The big project was dead, and my role kinda… evaporated. Wasn’t a layoff, exactly, but more of a reshuffle. I got moved to manage this internal tooling thing. Honestly? It felt like being sent to the B-team. Like, okay, you didn’t win the main event, so here’s a little something to keep you busy. A consolation game, right?
My first thought was, “Great, this is where careers go to die.” The tools were old, the budget was small, nobody really paid it much attention. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t the big league.
Playing the Hand I Was Dealt
But, you know, I had to do something. So, I started digging in. Talked to the few people who actually used these tools day-to-day. Found out what bugged them, what they wished worked better. It wasn’t earth-shattering stuff, just small fixes, improvements here and there.
Here’s what I did:
- Started small. Fixed annoying bugs first.
- Actually listened to the users, the folks who never got asked before.
- Made some simple updates to make things slightly less painful to use.
- Didn’t try to make it fancy, just functional.
The Unexpected Upside
And a funny thing happened. People noticed. Not the bosses upstairs, but the regular folks using the tools. They started saying thanks. Said their day was a little easier. The stress was way lower than chasing that big contract. No crazy deadlines, no massive pressure. Just steady work, fixing things that actually helped my colleagues.
It wasn’t the championship trophy I thought I wanted. It was definitely the consolation game. But you know what? Winning isn’t everything. Sometimes, playing the smaller game, making a difference in a quieter way, turns out to be surprisingly okay. Maybe even… better? Less glory, sure, but way less burnout. It’s a different kind of win, I suppose. And I’m alright with that. That’s my story with this ‘consolation game’.
