i'm jon crowley

attentionindustry:

2 years ago, I took a big risk.  I left a job I’d only started 6 months before, because a friend was willing to take a bit of a chance on me, and hire me to work with him to build the digital team at an agency best known for print, direct mail, and in-store work.

Needless to say, it paid off. The last 2 years have been an amazing learning experience, and I’ll spend the rest of my life being grateful to the team at OSL for what we accomplished together, and how I’ve grown with the influence, help, and support of so many individuals there.

But the times, they are a-changing.

On Monday, I’ll be joining the strategy team at Klick, and starting in an industry that’s new to be as well, working primarily in the health space.

It’s not just new challenges and new opportunities that motivated me to make the switch.  I’m excited to work with the people, and the culture that I’ve been introduced to in interviews and conversations with the Klick team.

So, starting on Monday, I’ll be working downtown again. Which I’m hoping means I’m going to be a little more available than I’ve been in the past couple years, given the lack of commute.

I’m really, very, incredibly (possibly unreasonably) excited. Change is the one constant in life, and this feels like a very good one.

New job, new challenges, same Jon Crowley. Very excited to do this.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m realizing just how much of a problem not having any hobbies is.

Put more bluntly, my life was a cycle of working very hard, then blowing off steam, for about two years.

Work would be time spent at the office, or writing and research and networking done in the pursuit of getting better at what I do. Blowing off steam was essentially drinking with friends, drinking at networking events, and from time to time, drinking by myself.

Because these two elements were 95% of my waking hours, I essentially needed to anchor my value to my progress and growth in the realm of “work”.

Recently (as in, the last few months) I’ve noticed that I need, at minimum, a third category: recharge / relaxation. This staved off burnout, but didn’t give me anything to take pride in.

You can’t tie a sense of self-worth to your ability to read while sitting in a beanbag chair.

The core problem is this: my belief in my own value is far too wrapped up in my professional progress. As such, if I feel I’m not making enough progress (totally independent from quality of work, or value created by my work), I begin to feel off-balance.

I’ve done this in the past with relationships, so it’s not a completely isolated behaviour.

The problem is, I don’t really work at anything that isn’t my job. I don’t have an external source of validation. I’ve managed to build a life that doesn’t have any outlet for my desire to do meaningful work, outside of my job.

Problematically, identifying an issue does nothing to address it. But it does shut up at least one of the threads of inquiry that has been running through my head late at night.