People talk about Jordan being MVP all the time, right? Like it was just this natural thing. He worked hard, boom, MVP. Simple.
I remember trying to channel that kind of energy once. It was on this project, years ago. Felt like our team’s big shot. I decided, okay, I’m gonna be the ‘Jordan’ here. The go-to guy. The MVP, basically.
So I started putting in the hours. Crazy hours. Late nights, weekends, you name it. I was diving deep into every little detail, trying to anticipate problems before they even happened. My whole life outside work just kind of… stopped.
- Fixing bugs nobody else wanted to touch.
- Writing extra documentation no one asked for.
- Staying late to help teammates stuck on their parts.
- Basically trying to carry the whole thing.
But you know what? It wasn’t like the movies. Being the ‘MVP’ on that team felt different. It wasn’t about glory. It was mostly just… tiring. Really tiring.
Some folks on the team were doing their thing, sure. But others? Barely pulling their weight. And management? They saw the project moving forward, but didn’t seem to notice, or maybe care, who was dragging it across the finish line. Felt like I was running sprints while others were jogging, but we all got the same participation trophy, you know?
What Being ‘MVP’ Really Meant
We finished the project. It was okay, not spectacular. Did I get an MVP award? Nah. Got a standard ‘good job’ email. That was it.
It made me think a lot about that whole ‘MVP’ thing. In sports, maybe it’s clearer. You score the points, you win the games, people see it. In a regular job? It’s messy. Sometimes being the ‘MVP’ just means you burned yourself out while everyone else coasted.
Learned my lesson, sort of. You gotta work hard, yeah, but trying to be Jordan in an office? It doesn’t always pay off the way you think it will. Sometimes it just leaves you feeling exhausted and a bit stupid for trying so hard. Better to just do your part, help others, but not kill yourself for a title nobody’s actually giving out.
