Why make anything?

There are endless reasons we can come up with for making stuff. None of them can match what I remember feeling as a kid.

You get an idea. You love what it might become. And so you make it.

I remember feeling so excited as a kid to just dump a bunch of crayons on the table and start drawing. At one point, probably around age 10, I drew combinations of animals as a series I’d give to my family and even my dad’s then-boss: an octopus with a cat head, a bird with a lion’s body. There was a series of cartoons I drew with my best friend, and a bunch of LEGO vehicles all built without instructions.

When I was a kid, making stuff was the most fun thing ever. I did it just to do it.

I think we need more of these moments as adults. We don’t need every single thing we do to lead to a promotion, or revenue, or notoriety. Not everything needs to be exhaustively researched and vetted. Not everything needs to exist because of some ulterior motive or end result.

Sometimes — the BEST times — we should make something simply because we want it to exist.

Try to remember that feeling you got as a kid, that excitement to pursue curiosity and tinker and create just because you wanted to. Now take that same feeling, and apply it to your work.