Friends of Dave #264: mmm...doughnuts....
The Sixth Sense Year
Happy New Year, Friends! I am really hoping 2022 is a good one for each of you and does not turn into being just "2020 too".....if you know what I mean....
Hard to believe it but this is the beginning of the sixth year of the Friends of Dave newsletter. I really had no plan when I started doing this the first week of 2017, other than I wanted to start writing on a regular basis again. Somehow the weeks have gone by and I kept having fun doing it. So here we are (and if you follow me on LinkedIn, you are now seeing me post "re-runs" of past intros there every Wednesday).
What really got me thinking about this was an article about finding purpose through work written by Friend of Dave and executive coach Sean Carney on LinkedIn this week and shared below.
The post really is about the importance of understanding the delineation between what is a purpose and what is a passion. I'm not going to dissect it here in detail (highly recommend reading it), but I really liked how Sean framed the discussion.
There has always been something about writing and storytelling that has been a passion of mine. I honestly do not know why, but when I look back, it is easy to spot evidence.
When I was in 3rd grade I recall bugging my mom to ask the elementary school if a friend of mine and I could start a "school newspaper." We wanted to call it the "Daily Dot" and it was something we decided could be produced by handwriting it on mimeograph paper. I don't know what the topics were, but since the target audience was kids aged 5 to 10 (many just learning to actually read themselves), it couldn't have been too controversial.
I think we were able to do maybe one or two issues and then, either due to a poorly conceived revenue model, high punishment factor or a combo of both, everyone lost steam on the idea.
I remember occasionally writing short stories during summer vacations growing up, and then getting into it more seriously once I hit high school. There I was lucky to take several creative writing classes with a teacher (Mr. Chalk was appropriately his name) who knew how to push me out of my comfort zone.
My proudest moment was writing a satire of the People's Court where I poked fun at the town's school board and school superintendent. I also wrote a weekly sports editorial column for the local newspaper and was the co-editor of a regularly featured comedy column in the school news publication.
Shortly after arriving at college, I started a dorm "newspaper" that I produced once every few months called the "Fitz Press." Think of it as the "Daily Dot" except for kids aged 18 to 19....how obnoxious and controversial could it be? I went door to door collecting change so I could go down to the local Kinko's and print enough copies for everyone.
It was at college where, like most of us, I started looking for my purpose and tried figuring out how I could use my talents to form a career. It was during this time I gravitated to pursuing jobs in sales and marketing as the outlet for my creativity that could make me the most money and offer the most job prospects.
I was lucky to land a job right out of college at a great company which gave me plenty of opportunity to be entrepreneurial and hone my customer service, sales and marketing skills. This is when my writing began to take a backseat, particularly as I grew and became focused on being successful in my career. It would occasionally crop up in emails I would send to my closest co-workers, often with the subject line "In Related News..." to entertain them about the goings on in corporate life and in our office.
Think of these as the "Daily Dot" or "Fitz Press" but for 25 to 35 year olds in an office and distributed on a corporate email system.....really, like what could go wrong?
Then, like what happens to most people, that's when having a family, mortgage, responsibilities and career aspirations became the top priority. I had no time to think about writing. Sure, I would do creative writing as I began to excel in marketing, but that was confined to creating messages owned by others -- not the stories I wanted to tell.
In the blink of an eye, twenty years passed....who has time to write except for the occasional tweet or post on social media? That's when I started to see that email newsletters were becoming a more widely used asset in marketing. I thought maybe I should see first hand what it was all about -- for "work purposes" of course.
And here we are.....going on six years later, the Friends of Dave newsletter is going strong. I'm writing every week not because it is my purpose or to make money or for likes and shares, but because it is a lifelong passion of mine that, as the evidence shows, has always brought me some measure of personal fulfillment.
Friends, as we begin 2022, I hope Sean's post inspires you as it did me to take a moment to think about what brings you the most fulfillment in your life. What is that thing (or things) you did way back when that, for one reason or another, took a backseat? How can you work to get them back into your life -- and not to help you find purpose, but joy?
Thanks again for tuning in here. Sorry for the long preamble to start the year. Hoping to make our sixth go around together a good one!
XOXO
Dave
Think on This...
Should You Stop Searching For Your Purpose? — www.linkedin.com
Sometimes our passions and fulfillment align with our work; other times, our work is just an economic engine that allows us to engage in these passions.
This is great piece by FoD and career coach Sean Carney will get you thinking about what you are doing it all for in the first place.
For Your Day Job...
Digital Transformation Changes How Companies Create Value
Too many product firms start from the bad habit of asking “How do we make money” when instead they should start by asking “How do we create value?” and “How do we help others create value?”
Interesting look at a new model called an “inverted firm,” a change in organizational structure that affects not only the technology but also the managerial governance that attends it.
How the fourth industrial revolution transforms customer experience Four technology-enabled shifts are upending customer-service models. Here's what they mean for the future of your business.
2022 SaaS Predictions for the Enterprise
The companies focused on improving productivity and delivering a positive employee experience will be well suited to meet the current needs of their customers and well-positioned to thrive in 2022 regardless of what the next major disruption may bring.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
Prediction Consensus: What the Experts See Coming in 2022 — www.visualcapitalist.com
An analysis of 300+ articles, reports, and interviews to answer the question: is there any consensus on 2022 predictions? Here are the results.
Doughnuts: The fried treat that conquered the modern world Doughnuts travelled to the US with Dutch settlers and became a much-loved national snack – despite their invention as a hunger-busting austerity food.
Why 10,000 People Are on the Waitlist for Kora’s Filipino Doughnuts
Actually very quick read but more interesting to watch the video here.
How Is Buttered Toast So Good Every Time?
600 words on the perfection of buttered toast. Can be read while toasting....or performing "Rapper's Delight"
And The Last Word....
Appreciating Betty White, Who Was Always on TV — www.vulture.com
The breadth of White’s accomplishments is staggering and unrepeatable, and easy to take for granted because she remained self-deprecating right up to the end.
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