What You Have to Do Vs. What You Want to Do
In every job there is the stuff you have to do and then there’s the stuff you want to do. Sometimes they align, but often they don’t. In tough times like what we’re going through now, it can get hard to look beyond what you have to do. What you have to do to keep the money flowing. What you have to do to be able to work either remotely or safely. What you have to do to keep your family safe and fed. I’m asking you to take a moment and look beyond that.
Sure, now may not seem like the ideal time to indulge yourself in the things you want to do. But in reality, it may be the perfect time. Nothing is normal right now. People, businesses and brand who innovate and find the ways to pivot are much more likely to come out on the other side in better shape than those who don’t. Finding something you are passionate about and putting in the time to figure out how you can make it work within your current situation could be the thing not only saves you, but propels you on to greater things. It worked for me.
When what you want isn’t what your company wants
In an earlier post, I talked about how making connections over the years was my saving grace when after over 25 years helping run a marketing firm, I found myself suddenly without a job. That is only half of the story. The other thing that saved me was following my passion for something my company didn’t believe in at the time.
When social media was just getting started, my CEO and CFO didn’t see the point in it or how you could make any money doing it. It definitely wasn’t something I had to do, but it was something I really wanted to do. No matter how much I advanced into management, I’m still basically a writer at heart. So, when I found this new medium, social media, I loved it because it was essentially a writer’s medium. This was especially true in the early days. I loved the new challenges, whether it was crafting a message in 140 characters or less or taking on a more engaging, human approach for brands to talk to their communities.
Those early years, I had long arguments with my fellow managers of the company, trying to get them to believe in this new medium. And even when I finally was able to bring in a full-time social media person to work as part of my team, my CEO and CFO couldn’t understand what it was he did.
Fortunately for me, I spent the time beyond my job and what I had to do to learn this thing I wanted to do. Eventually, like the rest of the world, they came around. But, I had to make the time on my own to do what I wanted to until it became something I could do in my business context.
The work I love is now the work I live
So, that was the other piece of the puzzle. As my agency dissolved and I found myself out of work a year ago, it was the skills I learned in digital and social media that were the marketable skills that got me new work right away. It is what has kept me relevant as my hair turned from blonde to dark brown back to a lighter color again. Sure, I still use my writer, producer, strategist, management and other skills – but it’s the ones I learned while doing what I wanted to do that have kept my family fed and safe and me working today.
So, you do what it is that you have to do in this crazy time we’re living through. But, what is it you really want to do? Make time to do it, even if it means nights and weekends. And then figure out how what you love doing can be what you are doing. Who knows, it might be the thing that keeps you going when your hair turns into a lighter shade again.
Mike McClure, loving what I have to do
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