Taking a Break Before You Crash and Burn

Photo by Carey Schumacher

"I'm an optimist. I've always believed the future is going to be better than the past. And I also believe I have a role in that. The great thing about human beings, myself in particular, is that I can change. I can do better. If you can get up every day, stay optimistic, and believe the future is better than the past, those few things get you through a lot of tough times.   Jeffrey Immelt

It's one of my new favorite quotes I read recently, because I've often been criticized about being overly optimistic. This past year was one of the toughest I can ever recall and that optimism, along with the support of some very special people, helped keep me focused and really did get me "through a lot of tough times".


I don't know anybody who's afraid of working hard, but the tough part is patience and recognizing when you need to take a break. I love this industry and every day I'm seeing photographers beat the economy, but they're also working harder than ever to find new targets and projects.

For me, the latest issue is recognizing my own need to take a break and walk away from the computer and phone for a few hours, maybe the whole day. Several times this week I had a few serious mistakes in posts and tweets. I never saw them, even though I had read them over several times. One was actually missing the rest of a sentence, but Brian Malloy, a photographer in Boston, was watching my back, caught it and sent me an IM. Here's a great example of having terrific people in your network. They take the time to keep an eye on what you're doing!

So, here's my point this morning: Every now and then something comes along that lights the passion of things you love to do so much, you become completely consumed. You're so totally focused that there's a very thin line between your obsession and that of a crack addict! 

I don't think I've ever had more fun, worked harder or worked with more talented people in our industry to make SCU a reality and I'm completely hooked. Somebody asked one of our team recently, "So how many years have you been working on this?" Well, the answer is, eleven weeks and two days as of this morning.

The August Summer Session, just one component of SCU, is going to be our best program yet.  As sappy as it sounds, it will be a life-changer for a lot of people. The content on the site keeps growing, thanks to an amazing group of contributors. The partners all believe in education and helping photographers raise the bar on their quality and their skill set and we're adding new material and features every day.

"My name is Skip Cohen and I'm a photoholic!"  I've worked on this almost all day every day since we started and there's a point where everyone needs to take a break...You've got to recognize what they meant when they coined the expression, "Rome wasn't built in a day!"  I do a great job of telling you guys to recognize when it's time to step away from the business for a day and just take a break, but God forbid I should consider the idea myself.

So, to those of you who are constantly giving me feedback and new suggestions...thank you! To Brian and others who have caught my mistakes and given me a shout-out to help me look smarter than I really am - thank you!  And to some really good friends who suggested I just step away for the day...I'm headed to the beach!

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend!

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