All projects: Gel, Jobs, Good Todo, Games, Uncle Mark, Blog, Bit Literacy
A small, gentle question that could change your life
If you're lucky, sometime this summer you'll get a chance to step back and take stock of how you're doing.
In particular, I'd invite you to consider: are you creating a good experience in whatever you do, day-to-day? And more importantly, are you having a good experience? By "good" I mean truly, authentically good, in the long term, for you and the community and the world.
It was a radio interview that got me thinking.
Julian Koenig, one of the most accomplished ad men of the 20th century (he was even referenced on "Mad Men"), was featured in a recent episode of my favorite radio show, "This American Life." Now at an age when he's looking back on his life and career, he had this to say about his profession:
Advertising is built on puffery, on, at heart, deception. I don't think anyone can go proudly into the next world with a career built on deception, no matter how well they do it.
That's quite a statement about your business, after a career that spans decades. And it speaks volumes about the methods and intent of advertising, that all-American activity. But it also raises a more important question:
What can you say about the work you do?
When you're in your twilight years and looking back on what you poured out your life to create, what will you say?
Here's what Steve Jobs said when he addressed Stanford's graduating class a few years ago:
...for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
And Seth Godin wrote, around the same time, about the decision you make every day:
The thing is, we still live in a world that's filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity -- we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To find ideas that matter and to share them. To push ourselves and the people around us to demonstrate gratitude, insight, and inspiration. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing. ... You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It's never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment -- just one second -- to decide.
Now I understand that, especially in a recession, one especially good experience is being able to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and have health insurance. And if that means a job writing sorta-kinda deceptive ad copy, so be it.
With that said, I think there's an urgency to this question - perhaps even more so now, when we're naturally taking stock of our work. Whatever you do, is it a good experience? For you? For the people you create it for?
- - -
See also:
• Video interview of Julian Koenig
• For what it's worth, another thought on looking back - Do not go gentle into that good night.
Steve Jobs' speech to Stanford was also quoted in an article in The Guardian recently (I'm sure it's quoted all over the place - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/23/steve-jobs-liver-transplant).
It's the very next line that really struck me:
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
What if the answer to the question is no. I haven't enjoyed my career in years, but I do it to support my family and because I am afraid to start from scratch and do what I enjoy most.
YES! When several times a week we get feedback from clients, saying that the products we've found and made available have made a difference in their quality of life, either lifted their spirits, eased a physical complaint or, in some way, made their life better. YES, what we do is a good experience both for us and for others.
Years ago my daughter described what we do at Nature's Gift "Every day, all over the world, they send out boxes full of joy and healing."
Who could ask for more?
www.naturesgift.com
All decisions in life are based on 2 things: Fear or Faith. I agree sometimes fear is stronger than faith, thus not loving what we do is purely a fear issue.
A very inspiring article. I've been asking myself this question a lot over the past few months. And what's even more important: What are the things that would make your life more enjoyable? What do you really want? Thinking about these questions have already changed a lot in my life. Realizing what you really want is the first step. And if you really want something, there is almost always a way to make it happen. If you believe in yourself and your potential to reach your goals.
No. The good experience is more often like the rare moment, the striking difference, the noteworthy scene. In a way that's why I'm into it: doing the small steps one at a time.
Some days my work lets me make "things" better for somebody, or many somebodies - make things clearer or easier. Some days I just have, "At least I made a really good dinner for us," or "The dogs got a really good walk outta me." It's the days I go to sleep without holding up anything from the day to the Creator of the Universe and thinking,"Thanks for that" - those are the wasted days. Conscious gratitude is what makes my life worth living.
These are the comments of sociopaths with tendencies to genius.
The rest of us make much more complicated calculations based on 1) impact of our choices on family, friends and even pets, things and people that depend on us. 2) An understanding that most of us don't know what would make us happier - would being a bartender in Belize really be that much better? - 3) calculations of trading off future happiness for some current unhappiness. 4) Is happiness as defined "is this what I would do with my last day" a good way to measure your life? What about the happiness that is satisfaction, "it was tough, painful, even, but I raised good kids."
This is the way adults make decisions. The other way is how you sell motivational posters.
Right on! I had a good experience reading this post so you have done your deed!
I work in PR -- a cousin of advertising. I wake up every morning looking forward to my work. I enjoy my colleagues, writing and helping people. I'm a bit nutty -- I enjoy meetings, too.
I'm not going to change the world and I have bills to pay so at this stage in my life I'm not going to start something new. But I have a good experience each day because I choose to be happy. And I'm lucky enough to have picked a career that suits me.
(Sort of in response to GH, commenter #2) Jun Loayza presented an article on this same idea just yesterday, though he talks much more about how to find that balance of finding happiness in what you do, even when it seems pointless and way too difficult.
http://personalbrandingblog.com/the-difference-between-being-great-at-your-job-and-loving-your-job/
Are you creating good? It is an excellent question and one we should ask ourselves on a daily basis.
I don't know Steve Jobs personally and I was unaware of his Stanford speech, but I too tend to look at my life through the prism of death. How do I want to be remembered? What do I want to accomplish? Which opportunities did I seize and which did I squander?
Several years ago I launched a site called Otrib.com which is dedicated to helping people manage end of life events. There is a very robust community of users, most of whom have experienced the loss of a child, spouse, parent or sibling. The stories they share are heart-breaking and yet, through the pain, they help each other cope.
Some of my best days (most personally rewarding) are when I receive an email from an Otrib user thanking me for the site, telling me that they were despondent and at the end of their rope, but that they now could see they weren't alone...and that they can survive/make it through their dark period.
If you can make a living by truly helping people, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world.
It is the reason why my wife and I quit our jobs, sold everything we owned and spent a year travelling - before re-structuring our lives.
Mark@8 - I'm not sure if it's fair to say that it's how sociopaths make decisions. He didn't say that you need to start over, just that something needs to change. That change could be something simple, maybe about your own outlook as opposed to some kind of revolution.
For that matter, it might just be that you need to re-examine your answer to the question. After all, dying today knowing that you were doing what was necessary to support your family (even if you don't love your job) means that you probably do want to do what you're about to do today.
Right on Mark. And everyone here who has time, energy and fortune, as Lynne above him says, to "hold[ing] up anything from the day to the Creator of the Universe and think[ing],"Thanks for that" should continue to be extremely grateful for such a privilege. A great majority of humans struggle just to survive, living day by day without the proselytizing to follow their bliss. And as a popular author recently said, we're all stumbling toward happiness -- most of us are blind to knowing what that truly is regardless.