Tom McElligott on the Work

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON? In other words, with regard to your work, what is at the top of your mind right now?

Very important — but slightly less important — is doing effective work for your clients.

“You have to make stuff,” said journalist David Carr when he was asked if he had any advice for students. “No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.”

In your work life, specialize, which is merely deciding where you’re going to be smart. Note the patterns in this defined area and write them down so that you can do some initial testing with clients in a real-world setting where embarrassment stings.

work is to ignore inspiration. In a New York Times column on the topic, David Brooks summarizes this reality more bluntly: “[Great creative minds] think like artists but work like accountants.”