Gary Vanderchuck takeaway
Gary Vanderchuck's video on "do what you love" landed home pretty easily. I've heard this advice before in other TED-like talks. He is right of course; people should do what they love. It's the best way to stay motivated and keep coming back to the same projects year after year.
Over ten years after Gary's video however, I think we need to dig a little deeper.
Gary's funniest advice was to "stop watching Lost." This is hilarious and true, but it only touches on what I want to know. I want to know why are we doing what we love. Gary's advice for people struggling with other jobs they don't love: work hard and carve out a few hours at the end of each day doing what they do love. For Gary that time was 7pm to 2am. He clearly didn't watch Lost, but he clearly didn't have any kids either.
But beyond whether you have kids or not, why do we feel the need to stay motivated and committed to what we love in a world that is constantly moving faster and faster? Just look at Tic Toc and Quibi. Do I really want to try to run faster than that? Gary's talk ignores this meta-perspective. It feels like he wants us all to turn what we love into a horsewhip of self-flagellation, whipping ourselves into running faster than everyone around us. And is it us that is driving this fast? Or is it Corporate America?
I'll push back on Gary's advice since I'm a devil's advocate kind of guy anyway. Is success doing what we love really what we want? A society of competition, creating so much content and consumable products no one person could ever watch or consume even a fraction of it? If everyone stops watching Lost, who will be left to watch Lost? That's kind of what we have now I think. There is too much to consume, most of which is mediocre at best. I guess what I'm hearing is for us to keep speeding up; work faster, longer, harder. And as long as you "do what you love" it will be worth it. I'm not sure the payoff is thought out. Especially when what people want most is success.
Gary said something very important: we're living in an age where reality is being dictated by the majority of consumers rather than the tiny minority of corporate media leaders. This is a great thing but is still in its infancy as a business model. And Corporate America is always trolling the waters to see what people like and then re-packaging it for mass-consumption. That's where the two things that Gary is talking about intersect: doing what you love; and working really hard at it. And they don't blend well. At least they don't blend well for people who aren't' Gary, and who don't have the insight to keep control over their own brand.
What about the average Jane? Gary does what he loves, and he turned down 40 TV offers to keep doing that. But what about the people who don't have his insight? What about the people who grind away for years and finally succeed? What happens when Netflix, or Coca-Cola, or Citibank calls? Gary's message becomes very gray. Maybe it should be, "do what you love, and when Corporate America calls, don't answer." I'm not sure his current message is loud enough for people sweating their lives away. Just ask Matthew McConaughey and Lincoln. Or Martin Scorsese and Coke. They both clearly do what they love, and have no qualms about letting Corporate America use their personality brands to sell other brands. And they serve as examples for those of us waiting to succeed. It's the problem when love and business intersect; when struggle meets success.
And I think that's more to the point of what we're talking about: brands. So to reinterpret Gary a little into what I'm hearing from him: use what you love as your brand. Work hard and your brand will succeed.
But keeping what you love at the forefront of what you are doing is harder than it sounds. Especially when you are driving so fast to promote yourself, and promoting yourself primarily to succeed. So when you cross the finish line I think it's easy to forget why you are there. Or maybe it's too easy to remember. Why are you driving to succeed? Is it for money? If so, then Corporate America wins, and you might as well sell out like Matt and Martin.
I think it's easy to obfuscate what you love with why you love it. Everyone needs to earn money in this world, and we spend a lot of time burning the wick at both ends to figure out how to do it easier and more efficiently. But before we over-simplify the answer by saying "do what you love" we need to answer another question. Why do you love it? It's important to know the answer to this so that when you cross the finish line it's easier to remember what you love.
And that is part of the branding as well. People can easily see if a company cares or not and it's grotesquely obvious in today's social media climate they are trying to capitalize on that. Why are companies doing what they do? Does Lincoln care about the world it's marketing to? Or just it's own? Does Coca-Cola care about the people they market to (ahem, high fructose corn syrup)? Or just their own?
In the end, Gary is right. Do what you love. It's imperative. And as long as you understand what you love and why you love it, you'll never go wrong. But that's the tricky part. If you work to succeed then that is what you love, not the thing you claim as a vehicle to success. Have no delusions. And that is what Corporate America does best: it cuts the heartstrings between what you love and why you love it. That's why it re-packages stuff so poorly. There is no heart behind Corporate America, only the desire to blindly succeed. We need to keep this in mind when we line up at the starting line with them.
Understand WHY you do something, not just what. Love the why and when you succeed you can keep loving the what as well.
Over ten years after Gary's video however, I think we need to dig a little deeper.
Gary's funniest advice was to "stop watching Lost." This is hilarious and true, but it only touches on what I want to know. I want to know why are we doing what we love. Gary's advice for people struggling with other jobs they don't love: work hard and carve out a few hours at the end of each day doing what they do love. For Gary that time was 7pm to 2am. He clearly didn't watch Lost, but he clearly didn't have any kids either.
But beyond whether you have kids or not, why do we feel the need to stay motivated and committed to what we love in a world that is constantly moving faster and faster? Just look at Tic Toc and Quibi. Do I really want to try to run faster than that? Gary's talk ignores this meta-perspective. It feels like he wants us all to turn what we love into a horsewhip of self-flagellation, whipping ourselves into running faster than everyone around us. And is it us that is driving this fast? Or is it Corporate America?
I'll push back on Gary's advice since I'm a devil's advocate kind of guy anyway. Is success doing what we love really what we want? A society of competition, creating so much content and consumable products no one person could ever watch or consume even a fraction of it? If everyone stops watching Lost, who will be left to watch Lost? That's kind of what we have now I think. There is too much to consume, most of which is mediocre at best. I guess what I'm hearing is for us to keep speeding up; work faster, longer, harder. And as long as you "do what you love" it will be worth it. I'm not sure the payoff is thought out. Especially when what people want most is success.
Gary said something very important: we're living in an age where reality is being dictated by the majority of consumers rather than the tiny minority of corporate media leaders. This is a great thing but is still in its infancy as a business model. And Corporate America is always trolling the waters to see what people like and then re-packaging it for mass-consumption. That's where the two things that Gary is talking about intersect: doing what you love; and working really hard at it. And they don't blend well. At least they don't blend well for people who aren't' Gary, and who don't have the insight to keep control over their own brand.
What about the average Jane? Gary does what he loves, and he turned down 40 TV offers to keep doing that. But what about the people who don't have his insight? What about the people who grind away for years and finally succeed? What happens when Netflix, or Coca-Cola, or Citibank calls? Gary's message becomes very gray. Maybe it should be, "do what you love, and when Corporate America calls, don't answer." I'm not sure his current message is loud enough for people sweating their lives away. Just ask Matthew McConaughey and Lincoln. Or Martin Scorsese and Coke. They both clearly do what they love, and have no qualms about letting Corporate America use their personality brands to sell other brands. And they serve as examples for those of us waiting to succeed. It's the problem when love and business intersect; when struggle meets success.
And I think that's more to the point of what we're talking about: brands. So to reinterpret Gary a little into what I'm hearing from him: use what you love as your brand. Work hard and your brand will succeed.
But keeping what you love at the forefront of what you are doing is harder than it sounds. Especially when you are driving so fast to promote yourself, and promoting yourself primarily to succeed. So when you cross the finish line I think it's easy to forget why you are there. Or maybe it's too easy to remember. Why are you driving to succeed? Is it for money? If so, then Corporate America wins, and you might as well sell out like Matt and Martin.
I think it's easy to obfuscate what you love with why you love it. Everyone needs to earn money in this world, and we spend a lot of time burning the wick at both ends to figure out how to do it easier and more efficiently. But before we over-simplify the answer by saying "do what you love" we need to answer another question. Why do you love it? It's important to know the answer to this so that when you cross the finish line it's easier to remember what you love.
And that is part of the branding as well. People can easily see if a company cares or not and it's grotesquely obvious in today's social media climate they are trying to capitalize on that. Why are companies doing what they do? Does Lincoln care about the world it's marketing to? Or just it's own? Does Coca-Cola care about the people they market to (ahem, high fructose corn syrup)? Or just their own?
In the end, Gary is right. Do what you love. It's imperative. And as long as you understand what you love and why you love it, you'll never go wrong. But that's the tricky part. If you work to succeed then that is what you love, not the thing you claim as a vehicle to success. Have no delusions. And that is what Corporate America does best: it cuts the heartstrings between what you love and why you love it. That's why it re-packages stuff so poorly. There is no heart behind Corporate America, only the desire to blindly succeed. We need to keep this in mind when we line up at the starting line with them.
Understand WHY you do something, not just what. Love the why and when you succeed you can keep loving the what as well.
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