The Great Thing About Cleaning Up ...
... is that you find things that remind you of who you are. Not were. But are. If you ever need reminding of why you got into this business in the first place, simply purge all those papers and files around your woodshed, hard drives and iPod and re-arrange them taking care to open the ones with interesting titles.
Preamble:
This 10 minute message was actually delivered to the Concept Interactive Cape Town SA graduates in December 2001.
I found this while cleaning up:
++
Hello.
Thank you very much.
This message is for students … such as yourselves whom have recently graduated and will be knocking on doors soon … now. How would that make you feel? …
The assignments, lectures, projects, exams … all over! Wow. How do you feel? Relieved? Anxious? Excited? Nervous? Thrilled? Did you do your best? Maybe you believe you’d like to go back and pay more attention? Hopefully it wasn’t a waste of time and your parent’s money? Or worse. Your money! Maybe you’re energized and roaring to go …
But now what?
Well. Short-term goal: to have one hellava party I guess. But what happens on the proverbial Monday? You’ll find that the skills you’ve acquired, the creativity you’ve adopted and will soon practice, will most surely be evaluated in the most toughest, most unambiguous term I know. Money. Believe me. People will soon be putting a hard cash figure on what they believe your talents to be. And most businesses do not even understand how to manage your talents. So why do we do it?
I’d like to spend a few minutes this afternoon attempting to answer that question. For some it will hopefully ring true … for others not so. But then again, I’m up here and you’re sitting down there so I can pretty much say what I want. [hmm]
So! Why do we do it? Why do we get up in the mornings? Why, in the midst of the economic casualty that was last year and the better part of this year … do we still find a way to do what we do? Design. Create. Build. Promote.
I must be honest here … the answer came disguised in the form of an eMail from a friend whom was an unfortunate casualty in a recent spate of layoffs.
The mail read:
“Guys and Girls
I will leave you with this one sentence
People always say that they envy me because I could honestly say that I loved my job.
Cheers”
This brought everything into focus. Here’s someone who’s just been booted out … and this is what he sends. It made me think. On the one hand I felt terribly sorry for him … but on the other he is one of the luckiest guys I know. How many people do you know that can truly, honestly, say they love their job? Many say they ‘enjoy’ what they do. “Yeah, I dig it”. “My jobs cool.” Or “It’s okay. It pays the bills”. But to use the word ‘Love’ in context to ones job. There’s the Mojo. And something each and everyone should relentlessly pursue.
Now I realize that the majority will certainly be looking for a position which will allow you to stretch those creative muscles, a fortunate handful may already have such positions and the rest will probably scrape together every nickel and dime and will either travel or continue learning. And I’m afraid I’m compelled to report that it’s a battlefield out there. The Rock ‘n Roll years of ’97, ’98 and ’99 (as far as New Media is concerned at any rate) are over and the hangover has set in. I feel a little bit like a Mick Jagger … having enjoyed the grand party of ’98 and now a little older, a little battered and still trying to pump hits out. It’s a bit disconcerting but hey, I love what I do so I’m not going to stop now.
After reading the eMail, I thought back along my somewhat brief history of so-called ‘New Media’ and realized the moment my job became my hobby was when I was re-imbursed for purchasing a pile of magazines at the kilo store. That was back in 1995. The truth is I would’ve bought the magazines anyway, but I told the Financial Manager that it was reference material. The titles of the magazines read like a prepubescent teenager on too much caffeine: “The Official Sega Magazine, Mondo 2000 – A Users Guide to the New Edge, Gaming World, WiReD, The Unofficial Playstation Bible and so on”. But … I pulled it off! It was then that I had successfully blurred my hobby and my day job. What a feeling!
In the end – the MONDO 2000 users guide changed my life (and my career) pretty much the same way Star Wars did when I was 9 years old. I mean, the copy on the back was enough to make me believe that the book at recently falling clean out of the sky. I could instinctively tell it was very cool. I didn’t understand it, but I knew I was onto something. Listen to this:
“MONDO 2000 will introduce you to your tomorrow – and show you how to buy it today! From the creators of America’s most exciting new magazine, Mondo 2000 will help you surf the bleeding edge of the coming revolution in art, technology, media, chemistry, science, and music – The New World Disorder. Rope the internet worm with Digital Outlaws …. Boost your brain and body with amino chemistry … eat the quantum sandwich of nanotechnology … and immerse yourself in high-tech paganism, teledildnics, homebrew multimedia pranking, cyberpunk jockeying, and pleasure-pulse implants.”
Hey? And that was back in 1995. I kid you not. I had found what I was looking for. This was it. And fortunately for me, a company called TINDERB*X had just opened it’s doors and was looking for a Creative Director. A lot of the early stuff we did at TINDERB*X was very brave … and the reason we pulled most of it off was probably because we were so naïve. No one could tell us it was impossible. We were literally off the map. And believe me it was very cool. It wasn’t about the money or the small company benefits. It was about being part of something much bigger. It was about contributing toward the newly emerging digital landscape. It was also about having ownership.
I have seldom met folk whom are so passionate about what hey do, and whom they do it with. Folks that are prepared to drop all corporate bullshit and collaborate on projects together for the pure adrenalin. It doesn’t matter which company you work for, but give me an opportunity of jamming with Paul … or Andries … or Tom .. or Yugo. You know what I’m saying. You wont find this kind of soul in advertising. No way.
So who else truly loves their job?
Tom does! Tom Roope. For those that don’t know Tom … he is a brand unto himself. Tom forms part of the London-based design collective Tomato, and over the last four years has skyrocketed to digirati-fame as one on the most influential and talented multimedia designers the world has seen. I met Tom at last year’s Design Indaba and have been chatting to him last week as well. From the moment I saw him I could tell. He loves his job. In fact Tom went so far as to tell me that his job ‘makes him moist’. I couldn’t have put it better.
So to answer my question, “Why do we do it?” Why do we get up in the mornings, every day, and work insane hours? Why do we persevere in the midst of a recession? Because we love our jobs.
And that’s exactly what you need to do. Don’t stop until you find something you love doing.
You need to find YOUR Mondo 2000 Users Guide and perhaps you too, will one day stand up in front of a bunch of folk telling them that “ Your job makes you moist!”.
That is the single wish I’d love to grant you this afternoon.
Thank you very much for inviting me to share this message and to those whom thought I’m a total prat but remained silent anyway. Best of Luck to everyone. Cheers.
Preamble:
This 10 minute message was actually delivered to the Concept Interactive Cape Town SA graduates in December 2001.
I found this while cleaning up:
++
Hello.
Thank you very much.
This message is for students … such as yourselves whom have recently graduated and will be knocking on doors soon … now. How would that make you feel? …
The assignments, lectures, projects, exams … all over! Wow. How do you feel? Relieved? Anxious? Excited? Nervous? Thrilled? Did you do your best? Maybe you believe you’d like to go back and pay more attention? Hopefully it wasn’t a waste of time and your parent’s money? Or worse. Your money! Maybe you’re energized and roaring to go …
But now what?
Well. Short-term goal: to have one hellava party I guess. But what happens on the proverbial Monday? You’ll find that the skills you’ve acquired, the creativity you’ve adopted and will soon practice, will most surely be evaluated in the most toughest, most unambiguous term I know. Money. Believe me. People will soon be putting a hard cash figure on what they believe your talents to be. And most businesses do not even understand how to manage your talents. So why do we do it?
I’d like to spend a few minutes this afternoon attempting to answer that question. For some it will hopefully ring true … for others not so. But then again, I’m up here and you’re sitting down there so I can pretty much say what I want. [hmm]
So! Why do we do it? Why do we get up in the mornings? Why, in the midst of the economic casualty that was last year and the better part of this year … do we still find a way to do what we do? Design. Create. Build. Promote.
I must be honest here … the answer came disguised in the form of an eMail from a friend whom was an unfortunate casualty in a recent spate of layoffs.
The mail read:
“Guys and Girls
I will leave you with this one sentence
People always say that they envy me because I could honestly say that I loved my job.
Cheers”
This brought everything into focus. Here’s someone who’s just been booted out … and this is what he sends. It made me think. On the one hand I felt terribly sorry for him … but on the other he is one of the luckiest guys I know. How many people do you know that can truly, honestly, say they love their job? Many say they ‘enjoy’ what they do. “Yeah, I dig it”. “My jobs cool.” Or “It’s okay. It pays the bills”. But to use the word ‘Love’ in context to ones job. There’s the Mojo. And something each and everyone should relentlessly pursue.
Now I realize that the majority will certainly be looking for a position which will allow you to stretch those creative muscles, a fortunate handful may already have such positions and the rest will probably scrape together every nickel and dime and will either travel or continue learning. And I’m afraid I’m compelled to report that it’s a battlefield out there. The Rock ‘n Roll years of ’97, ’98 and ’99 (as far as New Media is concerned at any rate) are over and the hangover has set in. I feel a little bit like a Mick Jagger … having enjoyed the grand party of ’98 and now a little older, a little battered and still trying to pump hits out. It’s a bit disconcerting but hey, I love what I do so I’m not going to stop now.
After reading the eMail, I thought back along my somewhat brief history of so-called ‘New Media’ and realized the moment my job became my hobby was when I was re-imbursed for purchasing a pile of magazines at the kilo store. That was back in 1995. The truth is I would’ve bought the magazines anyway, but I told the Financial Manager that it was reference material. The titles of the magazines read like a prepubescent teenager on too much caffeine: “The Official Sega Magazine, Mondo 2000 – A Users Guide to the New Edge, Gaming World, WiReD, The Unofficial Playstation Bible and so on”. But … I pulled it off! It was then that I had successfully blurred my hobby and my day job. What a feeling!
In the end – the MONDO 2000 users guide changed my life (and my career) pretty much the same way Star Wars did when I was 9 years old. I mean, the copy on the back was enough to make me believe that the book at recently falling clean out of the sky. I could instinctively tell it was very cool. I didn’t understand it, but I knew I was onto something. Listen to this:
“MONDO 2000 will introduce you to your tomorrow – and show you how to buy it today! From the creators of America’s most exciting new magazine, Mondo 2000 will help you surf the bleeding edge of the coming revolution in art, technology, media, chemistry, science, and music – The New World Disorder. Rope the internet worm with Digital Outlaws …. Boost your brain and body with amino chemistry … eat the quantum sandwich of nanotechnology … and immerse yourself in high-tech paganism, teledildnics, homebrew multimedia pranking, cyberpunk jockeying, and pleasure-pulse implants.”
Hey? And that was back in 1995. I kid you not. I had found what I was looking for. This was it. And fortunately for me, a company called TINDERB*X had just opened it’s doors and was looking for a Creative Director. A lot of the early stuff we did at TINDERB*X was very brave … and the reason we pulled most of it off was probably because we were so naïve. No one could tell us it was impossible. We were literally off the map. And believe me it was very cool. It wasn’t about the money or the small company benefits. It was about being part of something much bigger. It was about contributing toward the newly emerging digital landscape. It was also about having ownership.
I have seldom met folk whom are so passionate about what hey do, and whom they do it with. Folks that are prepared to drop all corporate bullshit and collaborate on projects together for the pure adrenalin. It doesn’t matter which company you work for, but give me an opportunity of jamming with Paul … or Andries … or Tom .. or Yugo. You know what I’m saying. You wont find this kind of soul in advertising. No way.
So who else truly loves their job?
Tom does! Tom Roope. For those that don’t know Tom … he is a brand unto himself. Tom forms part of the London-based design collective Tomato, and over the last four years has skyrocketed to digirati-fame as one on the most influential and talented multimedia designers the world has seen. I met Tom at last year’s Design Indaba and have been chatting to him last week as well. From the moment I saw him I could tell. He loves his job. In fact Tom went so far as to tell me that his job ‘makes him moist’. I couldn’t have put it better.
So to answer my question, “Why do we do it?” Why do we get up in the mornings, every day, and work insane hours? Why do we persevere in the midst of a recession? Because we love our jobs.
And that’s exactly what you need to do. Don’t stop until you find something you love doing.
You need to find YOUR Mondo 2000 Users Guide and perhaps you too, will one day stand up in front of a bunch of folk telling them that “ Your job makes you moist!”.
That is the single wish I’d love to grant you this afternoon.
Thank you very much for inviting me to share this message and to those whom thought I’m a total prat but remained silent anyway. Best of Luck to everyone. Cheers.
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