The Wall Street Journal says “Bosses all over the U.S. are asking the same question: Where have all the go-getters gone?”
Are you kidding me?
I can’t say it any better than Georgia Garvey here:
That whole thread is a god damned treasure.
Category: Work
OVEREXTENDING FOR WHO?
Great reminder as we head into the new year:
“It took many years of bad experiences to realize that overextending often yielded fruitless labor.”
Olivia Lopez via WeTransfer
Yeah, you could say I’m killing it on LinkedIn.
PULLING FOCUS
This quote rattles my bones:
‘I was working in film production and was responsible for what’s called “pulling focus” – as the character moves across the scene, the focus puller keeps them in focus. That’s what I did for 10 years, mostly for commercials. But commercials are the most transient things you can possibly make. It’s so much energy, but they last for 30 seconds and are gone from the world. I wanted to make something more permanent.
Adam McDermott of Linus Bikes
EMPTY
Who remembers quiet Fridays? When all the demands of the week regain momentum just to crash into your Friday afternoon like a dumptruck? Sure. Why not.
Been trying the Pomodoro method of time management, and time blocking, and whatever, but really the best for me is “I’m working on this one thing, all my notifications are off, I’ll tackle the next action item when this one is complete.”
Multi-tasking is a myth, and a brain drain.
Photo taken with my GoPro 8.
NO RUSH
I’ve lately been leaning towards the higher-value work lately, and believing the lower value work will get done eventually. It’s hard, because I want everything done all the time, in a perfect schedule. I used to plan to have certain tasks done on certain days, but I’ve scrapped all that, and just started working on things as my energy allowed.
And while I love being wrapped up and done by 3 or 4pm, sometimes I need that workout in the morning, or that bike ride after lunch, which then pushes “closing time” back, and that’s okay.
MUSTER WHAT YOU CAN
Had two great talks this past week with two folks doing creative, vibrant work.
This after Tweeting less, posting less, and sending out one of my HEAVY METAL EMAIL newsletters after a month or two hiatus.
So often I think my words just disappear into the void, that I’m a horrible writer, that I should “write better copy” to get more work, and all the other shit you read from people who achieved success and think their method is the right method.
This is a weird spot to be in – not publicly posting things, sharing the work, whatever. But in these trying times, it’s all I can muster.
FUCK YOUR EDIT BUTTONS
There was a time in our lives when we didn’t see what friends had for dinner, scored on their biology tests, ran their half-marathon, posted a song, a funny meme, a photo of their cat, someone parked in the bike lane, a misspelled sign on the window of the local bodega, the cat from said bodega, their review of the new episode of that cool TV show that’s not on TV but a streaming service, their disdain for streaming services, their rant about cancelling their streaming service, their love for sports, their hatred of people that love sports, and the video highlight of some great athletic feat by someone in a high school, college, or pro event that everyone will watch for 3.4 seconds.
We didn’t read 18 articles about 18 different subjects before getting out of bed, like consuming three newspapers, 4 morning shows, and an hours worth of talk-radio (the comments and replies) before we even put on pants.
The soundtrack to our commute or shower or morning walk was limited to the music we owned, or the MP3s we downloaded to our portable device. Now we have the option of every piece of music ever recorded, and 60K new songs are uploaded to Spotify alone every single day. Hurry, it’s Bandcamp Friday – here’s 900 gentle suggestions from everyone about what you should check out and it will only take you 3.2 years to listen to 30 seconds of the first 329 links.
People could call us on the phone. Or send us a letter.
I have five email inboxes, three Asana inboxes, a Basecamp, and two Slacks to watch throughout the day. I’m probably forgetting one or three others.
Our meetings used to be limited to conference rooms. Now my face appears anywhere there’s a smart device and wifi. We’re experts with webcams and microphones and lighting and sound dampening, but fuck if anyone can provide a god damn agenda in 2022.
Am I the old man yelling at the cloud? Fuck yes I am. I’m tired.
KEEP CALM, FUCK OFF
Is there a better example of “the show must go on” than this?
There was a missile attack SEVEN MILES from the track, but the teams and organizers met for hours and decided to race anyways.
A MISSILE ATTACK.
I could hardly work on January 6th, 2021 during the fucking insurrection, yet the work world couldn’t stop. “Please ignore the attack on the Capitol building, answer emails, get on that Zoom call.”
Another example of everyone going “this is fine” and carrying while the entire world is in flames, sometimes literally.
TAKING LOTS OF SHOTS
I’m a big proponent of “don’t figure it out, find it out.” I probably got that from years of watching Seth Godin and Gary Vee videos, so if I didn’t properly give credit there, that’s why.
People have told me I was smart for “finding my niche” by helping busy independent music publicists with their admin, reporting, website update, and social media work, but really I just had a good friend who got laid off and started their own company and needed someone right away. A few years later I got another client doing the same thing. Three of those in total, doing various tasks and duties M-F.
I didn’t “figure out” that direction or market, and I’m not actively expanding that, as in; I’ve turned down clients in the past year for that work, because I found out there’s better pay and less hours involved in the email marketing world.
That’s something else I sort of “stepped into,” but it was also from a friendship forged in the late 90s, so I’m won’t feel guilty about that. And I’ve been doing various sorts of email marketing since 2011 or so, too… from email newsletter for Artists & Fleas and my own Skull Toaster project, where I sent over 1,000 emails (they were numbered).
Lots of tips and hacks online about “gain a skill, get a customer, earn six figures a month,” and I guess some people can manage that, but to me that sounds like a fantasy. I mean, the route I went isn’t the correct answer, either, but still.
All that to say – don’t figure it out, find it out.” Keep doing lots of things, all the time, and make sure you’re having fun doing them at least, or finding some fulfillment out of them. Email newsletters for me are fun because you get to see tangible results, like open rates and REVENUE, so your results may vary.
Still – take a lot of shots, and see what lands, I guess.