Creating Meaningful Work

This essay was written for the Makers of Sport® newsletter in March 2016. Monday Musings and Weekend Reads were the written editions of the newsletter that accompanied the podcast; the archived email is on Mailchimp. The newsletter's links and announcements are trimmed here.

I missed the Weekend Reads this week so I'm sending out this Monday Musings newsletter instead. Also, I'm heading off to Austin, Texas this Wednesday for SXsports so there will be no Weekend Reads this upcoming weekend. If you are unfamiliar with SXsports, I recommend listening to this podcast episode.

Before I leave for the Lone Star State however, I wanted to take some time to write about creating and celebrating meaningful work. As people that create for living, we are often tasked with making work that has a specific purpose: to sell. Especially if you work in-house at a company, team or at an advertising agency.

For many years, the advertising industry was about creating perception around a product in order to get someone to buy it. Over time though, the public has become more smart and social media, Amazon reviews & rating sites have allowed us to cut through the B.S. to find out exactly what people think of a product or service instead of trusting the company's advertising or some celebrity getting paid to tout the brand.

I believe in 2016 though, we have a great opportunity and even a duty to push ourselves to create more meaningful work. We have worked to build our own skills and have been blessed with an uncanny talent to create, a talent that others don't always have. Everyone has ideas for creative products, brands or businesses, but we execute them.

It's possible that selling products can be seen as meaningful. Apple's advertising campaigns really touch on some great issues when it comes to encouraging creativity and social good. And the recent Under Armour push by advertising agency Droga5 is targeting women to become more interested in fitness, as well as let them them know that fitness does not have to be traditional sports.

Providing very simple, pleasing experiences to sports fans on social media can be seen as meaningful for some. Or even creating a beautiful set of season tickets for a long-time season ticket holder who has passed down their fandom through generations can be meaningful in a sense. How often can we say that our work truly touched and affected another human being's life?

I couple of year's ago I read the book, Start Something That Matters, the story of TOMS Shoes with founder Blake Mycoskie. It really inspired to learn that we can create businesses that are more than about the bottom line—businesses that are built to serve others. As I write this, I'm viewing the screen from a pair of Warby Parkers; aesthetically pleasing, affordable and nicely designed eyewear that when purchased, actually ships a pair to a person in need.

I craved being able to do something similar after reading that book. I wanted to create something that gives back in some way. With glossy eyes it's been a pipe dream to do so at scale. This scaled up vision though caused me to never consider how having an impact on even one person through your work can completely change your perspective on life as well.

Every once in a while, we tend to go through a funk our careers. Numerous times in my 11 years post-college I have had these moments — sometimes days, sometimes weeks — where I question what I'm doing and if I should be doing something else. I even have those moments with the podcast.

Though the community has launched and it is making a bit of revenue, due to the size of this niche industry, I don't ever expect it to make enough to sustain myself and my family. I had just hoped it would sustain the show itself. That would be totally fine with me as my day job still funds myself, my family and my business. But still, sometimes I question why I put so much time into this show and if it is all worth it in the end. What I fail sometimes to remember is that this project itself occasionally touches people. Perhaps even some of you.

I've received numerous emails, tweets, Facebook messages and other methods of communication from listeners over the last 2 years doing this podcast. Some are genuine thank-yous from people that I can tell really listen to the show, and some are spammy sales types who I know have never listened to an episode wanting to sponsor the podcast or be interviewed for their awesome product. [pro tip: if someone emails me and says something to the effect of "I love what you guys are doing", or fails to use my name, I know that they have not listened to a single episode.] I read each and every message and am truly thankful that I've been able to create something that even solicits such messages. Especially the ones that Makers of Sport really resonates with.

Recently, I had been going through one of those aforementioned funks. Between botched brand strategy & unveilings by a particular client, public criticism of my work (as typical with sports brand unveilings), fake & vulturistic local advertising execs and a general crappy couple of weeks; things were feeling a bit blue around here (and not the Kentucky Wildcats kind of blue). Not to mention the amounts of snow Kentucky has recently received, the typical gloom of winter and consistently sick sons.

But something happened. I received a random email written by a listener that really touched me. Sometimes a simple thank-you written at the right time can really turn things around for a person. Never underestimate it.

That being said, it reminded me of why I do what I do with this podcast. I never created it to get rich. I never even created it in hopes of doing it full-time, winning awards or getting into iTunes top charts. I created this project because I wanted to give back to this niche and make my own little dent in this small industry.

Essentially, I've realized my dream to one day create something meaningful to others while fulfilling myself, similar (at what seems like an infinitely smaller scale) to a TOMS Shoes, sort of came true serendipitously. And it did so by scratching an itch of my own, a yearning to listen to a sports design podcast that didn't yet exit. A side project.

I encourage you this week as you head off to your in-house team job, your agency gig, or whichever job you might be working at to be mindful of why you are creating. And if you don't feel as if you are creating meaningful work that has the potential to touch others, consider forgoing that next Netflix binge and create a side project that has the potential to do so. If you can positively affect even one person with your work, it's a great win and makes what we do so much more meaningful and inspires us to keep moving.

Have a great week, y'all.

Cheers,

Adam