Early on in my career there was a mid level manager that always used to ask me "are you having fun yet?" . Actually, I wasn't. The job that I was doing was not much fun. I really couldn't understand what he was talking about. I never thought that my job was supposed to be fun which was why it was called work, right? Later in my career something slowly started to change. The work became more fun even if it was quite stressful with more responsiblity. I found that I laughed more and found more joy in my work. I felt as if I was contributing and adding more value in my positions. I had more people to manage and I became more focused on whether they were finding fulfillment and satisfaction in their positions. Even if there were doing something difficult or having a tough time with a client. I would spend a lot of time helping them to lighten up and find some other way not to take a pain in the butt client so seriously and not take any of the stress too personally and work through solutions and creative ideas.
I loved my role and my job and thought I was having fun. It had to be fun. The commute was terrible even though I was only 15 miles away from work. Being a single parent was very intense and trying to have a social and personal life was a challenge. As long as I was learning and growing it was fun. Taking on new challenges and trying new projects was fun. Creating successes and pushing beyond the limits of what I thought I could do was fun. My bosses were always supportive and encouraging which made it fun.
When my positions stopped being fun was when I no longer felt like there was anything to learn. When it stopped being fun was when the politics took away from the feeling of making a worthwhile contribution. When it stopped being fun was when the stress felt unnecessary and disruptive to my well being. When it stopped being fun it felt that it was time for me to move on. Not that I didn't want to do the work or learn or be productive and I was definitely not a job hopper, but I felt that there was some other new challenge and experience that it was time to take on.
I was in a meeting recently about how to get young promising executives excited about the advertising agency business and what their internships and early experiences should be like to ensure that they stay in the business. As a former entertainment magazine executive. I saw young people swarm in to get unpaid internships in the entertainment industry yet the advertising industry feels that their biggest issue is the low pay. There was a young executive in the meeting that mentioned that she was not interested in a career at the large agency because they were too stiff. I understood her perspective. While she respected the craft and was excited about the work. She also wanted to enjoy the experience. Wanted to make a contribution and be valued and wanted to have fun! I was told by the senior executive that it is not about that it should not be about the fun. Why isn't it about the fun? Why can't we make it more fun for young people entering the business. We should take a cue from the most popular company to work for - Google. No matter how many hours they work and how intense the role, they had fun and enjoyed the lifestyle. Fun shouldn't be such a dirty word. When I look back at my career. I had tons of fun and continue to have fun. That is what drives me. How I define fun is different than when I began my career but I find joy and laughter in working with people in the industry everyday. I say, let's bring in more fun!
