Talk about achievement: Doc Rivers led his Boston Celtics to an NBA championship. Yet as the next season opened and a reporter asked how he liked coaching, Doc called his job “a miserable joy.”
A “miserable joy”? Doc was saying that no matter how impressive his last victory, a coach is only as good as his next game: “Nice job on today’s success, Coach. Now a million armchair experts await your next mistake.”
This is Howard Butt Jr. of Laity Lodge. Every career has its “miserable joy.” Success brings criticism—you can bank on that. The bigger the target, the more people shoot at it. The thing is, you don’t let it change your game … in the high calling of our daily work.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Matthew 5:11-12
