The Joy of Tinkering
I was talking to a friend recently about career progression and the challenges I've faced over the last two decades in navigating work and life. So much of what we talk about as a society is related to the effort we're supposed to put in, and the eventual rewards we expect to see based on that ongoing effort.
That's part of the picture, sure. But it's a very narrow view of what it takes for someone to receive a level of perceived success.
Years ago, I thought better job opportunities came from applying myself, putting my nose down, and doing my best. Now, that's not to say those elements don't matter, that they don't fit, but they're not everything.
There's a really good book called "So Good They Can't Ignore You" from Cal Newport, that touches on a lot of this. Cal defines what a good career path looks like and how we can approach it. Instead of following our passion, we can focus on becoming great at our craft.
- Following your morals - You shouldn't take up something that you're morally opposed to. You won't be excited about the work. It won't match up to how you think about yourself.
- Autonomy - You should have autonomy in your work. There needs to be some level of freedom in what you do. If you're constantly told what, how, when, and why, you'll quickly give-up any desire to own the work and truly explore it and dive in.
- Growth - You should be able to grow, learn, be creative, and push yourself.
If you have those elements, then you can focus on any job, and so long as you become good at it, you'll want to grow and learn. Passion will follow, and your ability as a craftsperson will grow.
Around the early part of my career, I was tempted to go in some different paths, but I kept coming back to what I was good at, which ultimately doubled down on me enjoying it, which helped me become better at it. I followed that path since. I've continued to tinker, learn, grow, push myself, but I've doubled down on my strengths and ameliorated my weaknesses where needed. That's led to the last five years just being an absolute delight.
I've worked on things I like, following the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. I have minimized the areas where I just am not strong at all. That's led to me generally enjoying the projects, enjoying my time with my colleagues.
And so the advice I've offered to others, and listened to myself, is: find what you're good at. Double down, expand, look for other opportunities, and grow, and always try to carry over a little bit more of what you knew into something new that you do.
Looking at my own career, it started with graphic design and illustration, progressed into web design, project management, product management, and product design. Now the last year or two has been a complete exploration into AI tooling and how it can shape my abilities as a specialist in certain areas and a generalist overall.
The key element I keep looking at and considering in all of this is: am I having fun? Does this feel like play? Does this feel like the exploration of curiosity that I have enjoyed since being a kid? If so, if it matches that expansion of my own view, pushing my creativity, I continue to follow it and see where it goes.
Another big element of all this is that I will continually look for ways to see how I'm able to support and help others. I don't believe -- and this could be a whole other article -- that people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, become their own people, and are able to just stretch and grow completely on their own. So many people, basically everyone that I've ever known, though they've been a hard worker, though they've applied themselves, their growth and ability and their success in life have come about because of the sacrifice, willingness, and support of others.
And so I look for those opportunities to help others, because I was helped by so many.