Some thoughts on moving backward.

About 10 or 15 years ago, I had gotten myself promoted out of the advertising business.

I was at the top of a large digital agency and about three layers removed from doing actual work that would materially affect sales or the strength of a brand.

I spent a lot of time recruiting. A lot of time looking at briefs. A lot of time dealing with HR issues because some ass of an art-director flipped the birds to some officious security guard.

In any event, as much as what I was doing was important for the agency's brand, I felt very much like my brain (and my soul) were atrophying. It's hard to feel passion when you're spending three hours a day on employee reviews. And if you're not passionate about what you do, what's the point.

I quit.

In the years since then I have gotten back to doing what I love. I have taken about 92 steps backward and become a writer again.

Of course, I still have to do a lot of the things I mentioned above. But the thing that really butters my toast is the craft of writing something.

To be clear, I really don't care if it's a birthday card, a tweet or a big TV spot.

I have always self-identified as a writer. And with all the pain that comes from having deadlines and "putting yourself out there," this is what I do.

If you're feeling ambivalent about your job--as I was so many years ago--it may make sense to do what I did decades ago. 

Try to discern what you really love doing.

Then try to figure out a way to get paid for doing it.