Your career matters. It is perhaps the most powerful way you can make an impact in the world, aside from your family.
One of the best ways to use your career for good is to find a problem worth solving and then go hard in the paint (that’s a basketball reference).
But, of course, not everyone has the skills to get right to work solving a problem like solar energy or the education problem in the US.
What’s the alternative?
Art.
Art is the alternative. Art is work you put into the world because you care. It engages people on an emotional level. It soothes. It activates. It inspires. It motivates.
Your art could be art in the tradition sense: painting, sculpture, drawing, ballet, or another classic art form. Or, your art could be more subtle. It could be your writing, your teaching, or your sharing of your love for the outdoors.
Art is anything that changes people. And if you can’t jump in on a problem worth solving, then just make art.
We need you to do that. We need you to be the spark for the people around you. Art creates change. And change creates progress.
Work on problems worth solving. Or, just make art.
Thanks to inspiring artists in my life, like Jessalyn Haggenjos and Lindsay Gilmore, as well as artists whose work has inspired me, like Paulo Coelho and Elle Luna, for the inspiration for this post.