📆 Happy anniversary to caring about my work, but maybe not my job?

Happy 1-year work anniversary to me! What have I learned from jumping into a new field after a decade in the arts?

• How vendors and venues can, should, and do coexist (and that those aren’t always the same!)
• What type of support arts organizations want, and what type of support they need.
• What is a time-sensitive emergency and what isn’t (but, more to the point, if someone tells you it’s an emergency, it’s an emergency)

But I think my favorite lesson has been why I care about my work.

For so long, I was driven by missions (it’s the nonprofit mentality) — that we were all pulling together because we believed in what this organization was trying to do. I believed in those missions then, and I still do now.

The difference is, I don’t need my career to be mission driven. My passions can and should be, but they don’t need to be confined to the things I can make a career out of. I care about the arts, sure. I care about them a lot. But I also care about sustainability, about promoting small local businesses, about transportation alternatives and better (sub)urban planning. I care about my community, and my family. I care about sports teams, good food, cheap beer*, and my garden.

Just because I care about something doesn’t mean I should try to monetize that care.

I care about the work I do at Activity Stream. I think we’re providing valuable services to an industry that benefits tremendously from our products and our expertise. And it just so happens to be an industry that I care deeply about.

But that’s not why I care about my work.

I care about it because I take pride in doing a good job, because I owe it to my clients and my team to do a good job, and because it’s part of the give-and-take of having a job. I care about it because if I say I’m going to do something, then I’m going to do it well. I don’t need to be told that I’m letting people down if I do a bad job, or that the mission will suffer because I didn’t work hard enough. I generate enough guilt internally — I don’t need external forces helping me with that.

Freeing myself from mission-driven careers has allowed me to have a mission-drive life. Whether it’s volunteering at the farm up the road, phone banking for political candidates, or just spending time with my son, my life now has space for passions — they’re not just reserved for my career.

So what’s the point? I dunno — I’ve been here for a year helping arts organizations understand their data. It’s been a lot of fun — I think I’m pretty good at it. But I’ve also gotten to see my son grow up, and have space to enjoy it.

And that’s way more fun.

*Clearly, this was written before I quit drinking. That being said, I think I care about the idea of good beer, alcoholic & NA, as well as using it as a tool for gathering with friends, promoting local businesses, and trying new things.