Here’s Nigel Marsh’s TED talk on that very subject (thanks, P).

He’s an ad guy who realised he’d been working too hard, then worked out that it’s the little things that really matter.

I know I’ve written about the subject before, but I think it’s worth revisiting.

I’m sure there are many careers that demand time outside working hours, but  it was only the other day that I realised how it happens:

You start off in your career and the whole darn thing is super-duper exciting: your stuff is on TV/billboards/the pages of newspapers and magazines; you’re making movies (sort of); there seem to be ample opportunities for free alcohol; there are at least a few people of whatever gender you find attractive to perv at in the corridors; you feel part of a family (however artificial and spurious that construction actually is) of bright and interesting people; you are getting paid, possibly for the first time in your life etc. etc. etc.

And you almost certainly do not have a spouse or kids, so there is practically nothing stopping you putting in those extra hours at that enjoyable place you work and mucking in together like you’re all in the trenches at Paschendale (except with less mud and bullets and more Corona and layout pads). Then there’s the idea that more work in the early days will pay off later, kind of like compound interest: if you win a few awards in your early twenties and step up to a decent salary early then you get that salary for more years, and therefore make more money overall.

So that’s your early mentality, and it soon becomes habitual; after all, where do you draw the line that separates your non-working life from your working one? When you find your significant other and have to go to his or her best mate’s wedding? When his or her family are down in London for the weekend? When you’re on your tenth row about the time you’re spending at the office?

Up to you, really.

But it’s a tricky one, and some people never draw that line. They think it’s like putting toothpaste back in the tube. How can they work less when they’re earning more? They have to protect that bigger salary because now there’s a family depending on it, so it seems to make sense that you earn a lot of money to maintain the lives of a bunch of people you never see.

Anyway, there’s no right or wrong to any of it, but it might be worth ending with the lesson I once learned from a very high-powered CD: I asked him what it was like juggling being a father with running a big department. He told me that he has no recollection of a couple of years of his kids’ lives. He literally could not remember anything about their existence between year A and Year B.

But during that time they did live in a fuck-off big house, and you should see how many D&AD entries his department got.

Inception a capella (thanks, A):

Dances with Apples (thanks, S):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj2A0LybwPA

Predator The Musical (Thanks, M):

Kindergarten Krump:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DURPW7snUXE

The Beatles perforn Smack My Bitch Up (thanks, M):

What Frank Lloyd Wright expected from his apprentices (thanks, R).

Genius football cheat (thanks, ALS):

And:

At last, number three in our series of people who have decided that they’d like a source of income other than their ad agency earnings.

Matt Janes, late of RKCR/Y&R (what is about the entrepreneurial spirit in that place? I think it’s the proximity to the grim horrors of Camden High Street that incentivises them to get rich), decided to set up a website as a response to his slightly joyless experience of internet dating (I think he’s referring to the format rather than the standard of the ladies he met).

It’s called doingsomething and it promises to be a refreshing change from the usual dating websites (here’s a clickthrough to the site). It suggests activities for the date so that you do something rather than sit in a bar or restaurant and interview each other while secretly hoping for either a quick shag or a quick end to the deathly misery in which you are currently embroiled.

So, other than that,  what do you want to know?

Over to Matt:

How much?

It cost me 6 months of my time which can be costed in all manner of ways. And it cost me a significant amount of money to pay for the design and build. I’d prefer to not to specify the figure, but let’s just say I could have walked into a car showroom and bought a brand new car with the money. Instead, I got a brand new website. Which car showroom I could have walked into, I’ll leave to your imagination.

Who did it?

The design is by one Johnny Lighthands. He swears this is his real name but I’ve never believed him. And still don’t. It was programmed by a Mr Kip Parker.  All of the writing was done by a professional* copywriter.

How long did it take?

It took 4 months to build/design/program. 2 months to test. Unlike say, an app, which is done and then put on a digital shelf for people to buy, a social networking website needs constant care and attention. It’s always being improved and maintained, which has both an actual and time cost going forward.

3. How do you get it out there?

I’m promoting it using elbow grease. So, while it’s in the Beta phase, I’m just trying  to get it talked about and blogged about as much as possible. I want to get the right kind of people on it, which will set the tone for the site. Once that’s happened, I’ll do a proper launch. I’m also handing out dinky little business card fliers.

And, and, and… One really exciting thing about promoting it is forming partnerships with cool stuff in London you could do on a date. To that end, we’re talking to The Tate, who might be up for a partnership. And we’ve partnered with Hawksmoor restaurant too, so they will then tell their customers about doingsomething which is kind of an interesting/unusual way to find out about a dating website.

4. Do you have to leave your job?

I left my job to set this up, so at the moment, this is all I do. That may change once the hard work of launching it passes.

5. How does the site stand out?

The site stands out in the dating market in terms of idea and execution, I hope. (Spot the ex-Creative.)

No one else is doing a site that focusses on what you do on a date. And no other dating site has the same tone of voice, visual style or sense of fun. Someone emailed me to say “this is so the kind of thing I’d go on, so much better than Match and the like” which is about as flattering a bit of feedback as I could hope for. I don’t want to get into slagging off the competition, but I would say doingsomething is proudly fun, non corporate, London focussed, non-lame and it has a Wheel of Date.

No one else has got one of those.

6. Partners?

None. Saved up and did it with my own ill gotten gains. Nothing quite focusses the mind like that.

Or tightens the sphincter.

7. Income

At some point, I will charge subscriptions for being on it. Hopefully people will be OK with this, as apart from it being a really good site in and of itself, I’ll also be negotiating discounts on things to do on dates. So, the idea is your subscription (which will be less than other sites in the first place) will pay for itself in a couple of dates.

So there you go. Carry on with your job or leave it and do something else entirely.

The choice is yours.

Thanks to the Chodfather for bringing this to our attention.

More info here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TO4yeUIPWE

I know it doesn’t matter what I think, but I’ll write it down here anyway and if you’re interested you can read it:

Big, entertaining, fun…

But ultimately blah.

I like the conceit of Rodriguez and Thingie The Basketball Player chatting about it, but it’s just another version of Good vs Evil, fifteen years on (check out the flaming pitch markers and orc-like group of opponents):

I just think with that budget and those stars they could have done something that wasn’t just a rehash of one of their old ads.

All the contradictions of the Bible, lookin’ good (thanks, N).

The old lady who makes sounds for movies that are NSFW.

Cat laser bowling:

Oops. Didn’t mean to put this up today but, fuck it, enjoy it anyway. I’ll find more shit for Friday.

I haven’t had time to watch it, so I hope it’s good.

…and made them a conduit for something horribly smug.

(Thanks, J.)

Here’s a fact:

No one knows the future.

No one.

Not even one second of it.

(Thanks, R.)

Rock, paper scissors for real men (thanks, K):

He-Man vs 4 Non-Blondes:

Put all the McBain clips on The Simpsons together and you get a vaguely coherent plot.

Who gives a fuck about ad awards? Not Y&R Toronto.

But hang on… Leo Burnett Budapest comes fighting back with some award-centric shitola:

Natalie Portman cries a lot (thanks, A):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wM60afclpM

The periodic table of swearing (thanks, A).

Amazingly beautiful painting, like a 3-D Hirst (Thanks, J):

Babies are just pissed, aren’t they? (Thanks, R):

A great British movie (Thanks, D):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0twWw05u_Pk

And finally, a story to warm the cockles of your heart and the clip to go with it  (thanks, J):