Hi there Reader,
Welcome to this edition of Meaningful eMail with the most recent takeaway and updates linked here at the top, and then a full article for your consideration.
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Recent Takeaways & Updates
(Top Takeaways will return in the next edition. I found it tough to read and comprehend enough to have any takeaways while dealing with a nasty cold the past week!)
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Let's Explore
Which measuring stick?
This past Friday was the deadline to enter the local American Advertising Award competition, the first step in the multi-tiered national event to recognize exceptional advertising design and writing.
For decades, this competition was a key measurement for how my career was going. But this year, I hardly gave the deadline a second thought.
And the thought I did give it wasn’t about great design. Instead, seeing that deadline had me thinking about how much power there is in choosing our measuring sticks.
When I was a young designer, I definitely had some favorite measuring sticks, but none could beat this wide metal ruler with a cork backing. It was the one I reached for when I needed to create mock-ups and presentation boards. It was there on my desk, sitting on the dark green cutting mat along with my X-Acto knife, the day I got a special project assignment.
After years of working for companies and on projects that were more practical than innovative, I was finally working for a manager who championed great design. She led a team of about eight of us designers at a high-tech equipment manufacturer.
I was one of the newer designers, still paying my dues by updating existing projects and assisting other team members. So when this manager called me in to talk about a new project, I could sense something was about to shift.
The product engineers had created a new piece of equipment that was getting some buzz. It needed a logo to beef up its presence. And I was the one who would get to work on it.
I was so excited to get this assignment. I’d get to flex my design muscles and hoped they were strong enough to lift the project goals and power the design to be ADDY-worthy.
The project went really well. After lots of development, I was so pleased that the logo management selected was actually a good design.
Not that any of the other designs were bad necessarily, it’s just that, well, you probably know how it goes. Sometimes decisions made by a project team result in watered-down versions of what’s actually achievable.
But this logo design? It was sleek, balanced, clever. Could this even be ADDY-worthy?
It was months before the call for entries, yet I kept that logo front and center in my project files, knowing this one was something special. I thought it was a good design, but would the ADDY judges agree?
Yes, dear reader. They did!
I still have the letter announcing that the logo had earned an ADDY Award. And think about how long ago that was - to be notified by an actual letter instead of an email - yet I remember reading that letter like it was yesterday.
Winning that ADDY felt like the culmination of all the hard work and creativity I poured into the project. It validated that I was doing something right and had what it took to create award-winning designs in my career.
But over the years, something shifted. Those deadlines and awards stopped sparking the same excitement. My design work stopped sparking joy as well. Was I not challenging myself enough? Was I falling behind on skills or trends? Had I lost my creativity? Had I become irrelevant?
It took me a while to realize that the ADDYs weren’t the problem. My creativity wasn’t the problem either. I was using the wrong measuring stick. That metal ruler with the cork backing was ready to be retired.
The goals I once chased so eagerly no longer reflected where I wanted to go or what mattered most to me.
Those goals reflected a time in my career that was all about finding my place in society and in my industry. I was getting a foothold on who I was based on standards set by others: awards, promotions, and titles.
Once I got that foothold, though, I started to take a look around, and began to question what I saw.
As I stopped chasing outdated markers of success and chose goals aligned with who I am now, everything changed. My work became more fulfilling, my decisions clearer, and my confidence stronger.
The thing is, these frustrations we experience in our careers aren’t something to ignore or brush off. They are signals that we are growing, that it’s time to pick a new measuring stick, one that reflects what’s important to us and our families, not society at large.
If you feel irrelevant, if you’ve lost the love for the work you used to adore, if you have no clear direction for what to do next, if you’re having trouble finding a goal that feels worthy or right, there’s nothing wrong with you. That’s just you growing.
This messy middle can be a transformative experience if you let it.
Creating a new measuring stick takes some time and effort, but once you have it, there’s this amazing clarity.
It’s happened to me, and I see it in my clients. They feel reinvigorated. The imposter isn’t so loud anymore. Decisions are made more quickly. Their work, whether they continue in the same line or pivot to something new ,takes on more meaning and brings more fulfillment.
All thanks to deciding which measuring stick to use.
This clarity and momentum can be yours too. You don’t have to settle, coast, or just deal with it. In fact, given how long our lives and careers are shaping up to be, you need to be evaluating your measuring stick every so often.
My Power Session is the perfect place to do that. Let’s uncover what truly matters and create a path forward—one that’s as exciting as it is fulfilling.
