Seth Deming

The Work You Do Inspires The Work You Do

For me this is a simple concept. As Merlin Mann would say, the idea is that I need to be creating cool and interesting content. Trey Ratcliff would say I need to be doing that consistently. Then, that content will inform my client/fans (more on this idea later) of my skills and gifting. It will give them an idea of what they can ask for, and informs them of what they can ask for. For instance, I wanted to do work in film and video, so I made some decisions:

1. I Stopped Doing Other Things. I used to be a musician, and played in a band, etc. The guitar was set aside, so I could focus entirely on learning film. I read books, I shot shorts, I studied other peoples work. I sacrificed one thing to be good at another. How much time do you spend playing video games? What if that time was invested in the work you want to do?

Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest [motherf-er] in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.
― Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash 

I’m twenty nine and I still think that. I think it’s just what you decide to do on one level.  Caveat: I know I couldn’t go and be a pro basketball player, because I’m 5’8” and I completely suck at basketball. Okay. Still, think about what you enjoy, what you’re naturally good at and then go for that thing. Yes, I’ll never be in the NBA, but I might shoot a film about a basketball. You get the idea.

2. I Started Doing. This I think can be the biggest hurdle. It’s a very very simple idea – Do what you want to do. But I’ve been around so many people that talk about doing what they want to do, or buy tons of gear to do what they want to do, but never actually do what they want to do. I’ve been on the forums and they are a great place to be, don’t get me wrong, but I grew tired of talking about creating and eventually stopped going on them as much because I was too busy making stuff. Again, nothing wrong with forums, I love them, and am still on them. Please don’t send me hate mail.

So, the kind of work you do inspires the work that you do. The best complement I get is people asking for something “Like that one video you did.” And it’s cyclical, the more I do that kind of work, the more of that kind of work I get to do.

Now, what if no one is willing to pay me or pay you to create this content? Say you’re a cake maker and you want to design wedding cakes but all you’ve done thus far is some really great kids birthday parties. Nothing wrong with the kids birthdays, but you’re looking to class-up your game. Well, then go home, and make five or six cakes, tell your fan/clients what you’re up to (maybe with a video…eh? eh?), and savy-Internet-surfing brides will find you, or will be recommended to you (again by your fan/clients).  If I want to make cutting edge videos, I can’t just put up testimonials on my demo reel. I need to be learning and applying that knowledge to create media that tells potential fan/clients what I do. And most importantly, I’ll be attracting a client that wants that kind of media.

Think about the work you do inspiring the work you do in light of your job. Even if you don’t have a ‘creative job’, you have to be creative in any market to truly succeed.

Creative

Be creative.  Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I think that’s true, and applied to business, or creative goals, I think it’s fair to say ‘be the change you want to see in your industry.

If you have an idea for creating a way to be more efficient, or if there’s this change you know would make the company more money. Do it. Be the change. Let the work you do inspire the work that you do. If the boss doesn’t want to pay for it, or is scared to commit to it before they can see it work, than do it after hours. Be bold. Show them it works, and when they see it working, who do you think is going to benefit? You!

What if you hate your job? What if you know that no matter how good of an idea you come up with, it wont matter because the management is short sighted? Dave Ramesy says that the kind of books you read and the people you surround yourself with will determine where you’ll be in five years.  So get reading, and surround yourself with like-minded people. They’re around. If they’re not around physically, they’re on social networking sites, so start following.

I’m sharing this because this philosophy/ theory of the-work-you-do = the-work-you-do has helped me so much in the last three years. I’ve gone from working in insurance to being a full time DOP at a production studio. I write scripts, storyboard and shoot for a living for OC Imageworks. It is a gift from God, but it’s also a result of me getting up and doing.

So get up and do!

*EDIT

If you enjoyed this post, please read Why the Geese Did Not Fly by Michael Michalko. It’s a fantastic post on our fears and bias against creativity as it’s a fear of the unknown. Amazing. I’d like to thank John Campen for the link.