Have you ever gotten up in the morning and asked yourself, “Why am I doing this?”

Maybe it occurred when your task (or your task manager) pushed you to the brink of throwing a stapler through the window. Or maybe you’re catching up with an old friend who happens to be a banker and is driving a much nicer car and lives in a much nicer house with a much better-looking spouse…and you’re wondering what the hell you’re doing with your life working at an ad agency. Or maybe you’re just bored and tired and tired of being bored, and so tired of being bored you’re physically tired.

For only $19.99 a month…

Nah…there’s really no magic pill for this. And we all know this: no one gets to work at a job and make tons of money without toil, grind, and boredom…unless they are an Instagram Influencer. There is no perfect job. Focus on the free coffee and try to look forward to the Christmas party.

HOWEVER, things do get better when you start aligning your personal purpose with what you do at work. No, pivot tables in Excel will not save lives (but they may save trees if you don’t print them. More on this later.)

To align yourself, step back. What is your client really asking of you? What do they really need? Maybe you’ll see that the small task youre working on is part of a much larger task, which is part of an even larger contract that your agency made with a client. And that contract is to make something meaningful that will change their business for the better. This could mean a sales increase, or it could simply mean bailing them out when they call last minute needing a flyer for a tool sale this weekend (24-hour turnaround, Rob? REALLY!)

There was a famous Finnish German Philosopher that once said, “No client in the history of the world has ever challenged their agency to make their business worse.” At least I think that was said. I don’t feel like looking this up.

Your job then, your purpose, is to MAKE something that MATTERS to your client. Change their business for the better. To do this, you may need to learn magic. Or you may have to keep toiling in those Excel spreadsheets or become more devout in your prayer life; heck you may never succeed in making anything that matters – but that’s your purpose in life.

So, long story short, I never said this BLOG would give you the keys to life. But if you can focus on not just WHY you’re doing something, it may change HOW you do something.

HOW you make the magic, matters.

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