Within every project, I believe there is a project worth doing.

You may get a new client with a problem to solve, like “redesign our website to help us get more customers.” Your boss may assign you some surface to explore, like “create a design system for our data visualization needs.”

You may love it or you may hate it. Most projects fall somewhere in the middle, and often close to the middle.

But I always look for the project that I know I can get excited. It’s almost always buried within the surface-level project. You won’t find it in the brief or the product requirements document, but it exists. Your job is to unearth it.

When I was hired to do a straightforward redesign for a nonprofit, I was indifferent. I respected their mission, but it wasn’t something that personally resonated. It was a job. I knew I’d apply myself and do a good job. But when I discovered that one of my team members wanted to improve their illustration skills, I made it my mission to find a way for them to do that on this project. I was excited to do that. It was a quest, a puzzle. That piece is what would dial up my effort and interest from an 8 to a 9.

When I was hired to create a design system for a tech company, it was business as usual, which typically meant a mental challenge and long hours for a season. I wanted to see if I could do just as good of a job in half the time I would typically spend on a project like this. That became my project within the project.

Over many years, I’ve learned about myself that I’m perfectly content to do just about any project with a good client collaborator that comes in the door, but I get excited when I have the opportunity to learn and/or try something new. That opportunity isn’t always apparent or stated, so I usually have to go looking for it. But when I inevitably find it, it turns every project into something I’m more excited to work on.

What are you working on lately that’s adequate? What can you find in the middle of it that turns your apathy into adventure?

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