Stop cooking dinner with a hammer

I was talking to a friend yesterday. Let’s call him Mark. He’s at a solid company, good pay, decent perks. But he told me he felt bored, restless, and just “off.”

His first instinct? “I need to quit. I need a fresh start.”

I asked him a few questions. Not consultant questions. Just friend questions. It turns out the job isn’t the problem.

For a lot of people who want to quit their job, the job isn’t really the problem.

📌 The problem is the expectation.

We want work to meet every single need: purpose, joy, creativity, social life, growth.

That’s like asking a hammer to build the house, paint the walls, and cook the dinner.

It’s one tool. It isn’t the whole toolbox.

When I talk about AI and writing, I make the same point:

→ No single prompt does everything.

→ No single piece of content builds your brand.

→ No single skill makes you future-proof.

📌 How I’ve been trying to re-energise lately:

1. Create outside the “approval cycle” (job)

If writing at work feels transactional, start a personal blog or LinkedIn series.

Write about topics you care about, without approval cycles. No KPIs. No brand guidelines.

If I want to write about a weird lunch I had or a book I hated, I just do it. It’s transactional writing versus soulful writing.

You need both.

2. Learn things that have zero ROI

Take a photography class, join a debate group, or learn woodworking.

Do things that don’t relate to your job.

Me? I bought a Chess.com subscription.

I spend at least an hour every day getting my head handed to me by strangers online. I analyze my blunders. I learn the openings.

It’s frustrating. It’s difficult. But when I sit back down at my desk to write for a client, my brain feels awake. Those unrelated skills spark ideas that a marketing textbook never could.

3. Protect the time in your calendar

Give the thing you want to do the effort it deserves.

Treat these activities like meetings. With yourself. For yourself.

A job can be a part of your identity. It shouldn’t be all of it.

The most creative people I know have rich lives outside their titles. That richness is what makes them better at the work itself.

What’s the one thing you’re doing right now that has absolutely nothing to do with your career?