'The Shallow Hustle': Is Your Career Big Enough for You?

When your work lacks purpose & it's starting to make you feel like a weeny

I had a problem.

You might have this problem, too.

Have you ever felt pulled in a new direction, but it didn’t feel…big enough?

Not ‘big enough’ in the sense of ‘I’m so important and I need to be A VERY BIG (SWISS GRUYÈRE) CHEESE 🧀,’ but in the sense of: ‘Something about this work is lacking depth and substance and the feeling that what I’m really doing matters.’

I call this: The Shallow Hustle.

The Shallow Hustle is when you’re busy, but the work doesn’t add up to anything greater. You look back and you’re like, did any of this really matter? Did I actually accomplish anything besides making money? (Or even that, FML?)

This has been an emotional woe in professional contexts for a very long time. But, in a modern digital world when you can create something from nothing, for relatively very little cost, why aren’t we creating more things that matter to us? Why are we shallow hustling our lives away?

There are, of course, a myriad of legitimate, hard-knuckled reasons why millions of people depend on shallow hustles to survive. That’s not what this is about. This is about those who have the luxury to choose—and still aren’t able to find any purpose in their work.

Money > purpose.

⬆️ That’s been the silent battle cry of America for 250 years. When everything around you is supersized, the importance of money gets supersized, too. How many decisions did you make this week solely because they’d make you money—even if you hated the very thought?

I’m not here to promote the ‘follow your passion’ trope, because let’s be honest: that’s so played out and trite—frankly, the words bug me in the same way “Live, Laugh, Love” bugs me. How are we to respect your ideas with that horseshit in your house?

But, what I am here to do is offer a useful perspective on what to do when something does interest you—a craft, an idea, a project, a profession—but nonetheless, it feels trivial in the greater scheme of things. It lacks a deeper meaning, connected to a greater purpose. (Assuming we will all have one of those, someday.) The world is burning, and you’re over here making friendship bracelets.

This reminds me of another annoying phrase: what kind of ‘legacy’ do you want to create?

I’ve always HATED that word, legacy. Sounds so self-important. What are you, a czar?

Nevertheless, the idea of a legacy is relevant, because apparently we humans need to feel like it isn’t all for nought. It’s all very existential crisis-ey of us. What do you do when you like something, but it makes you feel like a dime-a-dozen huckster?

Case in point: I recently felt this way about architecture & interior design. I am super passionate about architecture & interior design. I LOVE THIS SH*T. But, the vast majority of conversations around the subject of interior design, in particular, is hyper-superficial, further exacerbated by the superficiality of Instagram. There are oceans of interiors influencers floating around pristinely renovated period properties in floral prairie dresses, carrying wicker baskets full of tulips in their freshly-cut grass, nose-rubbing their cherub-like two-year old with blonde curly hair, and performing / promoting this fantasy ‘trad life’—something I have never been able to relate to. 🤮 It’s the new digital ‘Live, Laugh, Love.’

For as much as I’ve wanted to write a fun newsletter about architecture & interiors & design, something I couldn’t quite pinpoint kept niggling at me. For months, I debated a way that I could contribute to this conversation in a way that felt interesting and meaningful to me. Aesthetics are cool, but what happens when you’re one of those fuckers who needs their wainscoting to whisper sweet nothings about the human condition?

Enter: THE SOLUTION.

A way of thinking about this that changed everything.

And, it’s a way that you, too, may be able to take something you love or you’re obsessed with or totally passionate about (even if it feels trivial right now) and approach it from a more meaningful angle.

Cue: the holy grail. Pleasure and purpose.

Let me tell you what I discovered. (If you’ve been beating your head against the wall trying to figure out your next career move, I promise this will help.)