What’s Your Thing?

by Nate Croft

Years ago while I was in college, I worked for several different major retailers over a period of about two years. I did a stint at The Home Depot loading cement bags and heaving potting soil. I survived a Christmas season as your friendly neighborhood consumer electronics consultant at Best Buy. And believe it or not, I even worked a desperate couple of months at Bed Bath and Beyond.

It was great time in my life, but I wasn’t aware of it until much later. At the time, I was miserable.

The purely logical, problem solving part of my brain must have been put in charge for a while because I was looking at things from a very narrow perspective then. I needed money. To get money, I needed a job. So I got one. Now I had some money. There was a very “*happy word* and Jane” sort of simplicity at work here. For various reasons, (none of which included being fired, thank God) I switched from one job to the next, trying to find one that I could stick with. I really wanted to work, to do a good job and enjoy doing it. But that wasn’t happening.

There was this nagging need to create that kept me restless in other occupations. I had to do something. That something was design.

The problem is that I was working at jobs I could do, and not at one that I loved. I was very thankful to to be employed and to be able to work, but I also knew that there was something better.

You see, I love to make things. Creating is one of the most enjoyable things in the world to me. I love to cook, to write, to play and record music, to draw, design, and produce. There are few things so satisfying to me as finishing something and knowing it’s good. And at that point in my life, I wasn’t making anything.

There was this nagging need to create that kept me restless in other occupations. I had to do something. That something was design.

Almost nine years have passed since then and I can honestly say I have never regretted that decision. I wake up in the morning and instead of dreading having to work, I look forward to it. And that’s saying a lot for the least “morning person” person on the planet.

So what do you love? Are you doing that? If there is any possible (and moral/legal) way, do it!

Check out Monster.com and AuthenticJobs.com (design/web stuff). I’m not getting anything from either of these places. I just want you whomever you are, to do something you love. You and the people who love you will be happier.