Finding Your Passion(s)

This one goes beyond career, but it's very important to have a good work-life balance.

I had a quarter-life crisis a few weeks ago that essentially got me thinking about my current passions. (Which eventually culminated in purchasing very expensive sailing lessons.)

Needless to say, I'm still discovering what I'm passionate about every day and my passions are constantly changing. When I left Time Inc in 2010, I was ready to conquer the world. I half considered moving to Europe and working on communal farms for a year (this did not happen, thankfully). During my quest to conquer the world, I got to thinking about what I loved to do and how to go about doing it. The problem was, while I identified things that I was interested in, I actually never set out to do any of those things.

I tried to work on previous interests and try new things - photography, yoga, reading business books. Reality was, passions are not easy to find. Often times you can try to choose them, but they choose you just as much.

I started a new career in 2011 in the ad tech industry, and it forever changed the way I look at what I do. Instead of a job, I now have a CAREER. It's something that I absolutely love doing and I'm incredibly fortunate to be doing it. I tell myself everyday that I'm very lucky. But the story of what I do is for another day. The point is (phew, it only took 4 paragraphs to get here), I'm very passionate about my job, but a few weeks ago, I realized... I need passions outside of work. I work too much.

So I literally plugged into Google "finding your passions."

There is a MULTITUDE of articles about this. But I think finding your passions boils down to a few things:

1. Think about when you are most happy, can you identify what you're doing as a passion?  For me, I find that I am most happy when I'm with friends at a restaurant or when I'm traveling to a new place.
2. What activities do you lose track of time doing? I lose track of time when I'm reading, eating something delicious, or mentoring someone. I devote a lot of time to finding new novels, finding new restaurants to check out, and joining mentoring programs (and finding mentees).
3. What gets you excited? I think because my interests are so varied, when I'm trying something new I'm really excited. This is probably why I have very ill-defined passions, but at the same time, it gives me a multitude of things to be at least semi-passionate about.
4. Eliminate excuses. Just go out there and do something or try something, if you're not taking action, you aren't getting any closer to discovering what you're passionate about.
5. Never quit trying. Finding your passion isn't easy, but be patient and you'll stumble upon it.

I try to follow these steps to discovering my passions, but it's easy to hit a roadblock when you don't have time to look for and develop anything. Luckily, there's always sailing.

Self-Compassion = Success?

I have long felt that high self-esteem equated to long-term success, but I'm not surprised that the Harvard Business Review has hit the target straight on again by reporting on self-compassion. But what is self-compassion? According to the article, self-compassion is

"a willingness to look at your own mistakes and shortcomings with kindness and understanding — it's embracing the fact that to err is indeed human."

This definition makes me feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside as I strongly believe that making errors can become a lesson learned and long-term success is dependent not only on learning from your errors, but also identifying your weaknesses and wanting to improve.

Take a look at the article and decide for yourself if you need a little self-compassion in your life.

(via the Harvard Business Review)

I'm back! Also, Jobs in Ad Tech

It has been awhile since I last posted (2010!) and now it's closing in on 2012. 3 jobs later, my focus for this blog will be mainly in start-ups and technology, of course, in addition to all the other topics that I wrote about before.

What does it mean to find a job in ad tech? Well first, we must answer what is ad tech. The #1 thing to know is that it's booming. Traditional media (print, OOH, even television) is dying. So what does that leave? The limitless world of the web.

Year after year, article after article comes out touting that digital advertising is vastly outgrowing traditional. In fact, eMarketer predicts that digital ad spending will hit about $40 billion this year.

Fast growth has put online ahead of some traditional media, especially print newspapers and magazines. This year, US online ad spending will exceed the total spent on print magazines and newspapers for the first time, at $39.5 billion vs. $33.8 billion. And as online shoots up, the print total will continue to inch downward. -eMarketer, January 19, 2012

This insane growth in digital advertising is big opportunity, particularly with the massive research initiatives around proving its effectiveness, understanding Big Data, and seeking new insights into how to best reach consumers.

So what positions are in demand for ad tech? The #1 field of expertise needed is in BIG DATA. Back in 2011 (last year), we kept saying "2011 is the year of Big Data," but 2012 has seen an explosion of the Big Data trend including a multitude of research, news articles, and editorial pieces.

So where do you go to find hot jobs in ad tech?  Good question. Look for companies in the display, rich media, video, interactive spaces. But in addition, third-party data providers/platforms, ad networks, analytics providers, etc.

Resources to learn more about ad tech:

• AdExchanger Resources A great list of must-read articles for anyone in ad tech or interested in ad tech. 
• ClickZ Marketing News and Expert Advice 
• Digiday 
• Adweek 
• Ad Age 
• All Things Digital The best gossip rag for digital media 
• Lies, Damned Lies Dated, but still useful 101's on Ad Tech

Related articles:

• Landing a Job at an Ad Tech Start-Up (via)
• The 100 Question Test You Have to Pass to Work in Sales at One Ad Tech Company (via)