“What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.” – Don Draper
Before he was known as one of the best creatives to ever pitch an ad, Don Draper was a nobody. An orphan with a questionable military history, toiling in obscurity pushing fur coats on unassuming New York City socialites at Heller’s Luxury Furs in Manhattan.
Though Draper couldn’t have known it then, everything was about to change when Roger Sterling walked into the store one afternoon. Impressed by the cool bravura and surprising vision of this boutique shop salesman, Sterling slipped Draper a business card and the rest was history.
Putting aside the fact that this anecdote is pure fiction from AMC’s beloved TV series Mad Men, the story of how Don Draper was “discovered” holds a valuable and timeless lesson for any aspiring professional: You have to bring your A game even when you think no one’s looking.
This doesn’t mean you need the sociopathic ambition of Draper — if you watched the show, you know he wasn’t just a guy who got lucky — but it does speak to the importance of recognizing that the quality of your work is what speaks for you. In everything you do. Every day.
Having the confidence to put yourself out on a limb, consistently, may explain why rather dubious characters like Draper are often successful in life. Take the case of Stephen A. Smith, one of the most controversial and consistently reviled commentators in the sports world. Stephen A., as he is somewhat obnoxiously known, has defied the legions of haters and become an immensely successful sports reporter and editorialist. His output is prolific, composed of more than 20 years of syndicated newspaper columns, daily radio shows and a co-hosted daily TV show still running strong today.
Admittedly, I was not much of a Stephen A. fan until I heard him on a radio interview about two years ago discussing his keys to success in life. It was a pitch perfect rant, as is Smith’s custom, in which he railed against the mentality of victimhood so often promulgated by the mainstream media these days. Our own decisions are what make us who we are, he said. According to Smith, he was able to overcome his shortcomings by bringing an intensity of focus, steady work ethic and willingness to “compete every single day.”
It’s easy to brush this aside as trite and universally accepted. Many of us work as cogs in a larger corporate machine, where the grand sum of our efforts end up on the bottom line of a financial analyst’s spreadsheet. Or, we are so consumed with our spouses, children and daily responsibilities that we fall into occasional bouts of complacency as a matter of course. Sometimes we are simply too tired or sick to be our best selves.
But in my experience the idea of making your own luck is real. Though I won’t go as far as espousing the concept of a greater plan behind our existence, I am acutely aware of the frequency of beneficial coincidences in life that plot out our destinies. The thing is, they only seem to happen when we set the table for them.
I’m reminded of the oft-told Steve Jobs story about how taking calligraphy courses as a young man, though unrelated to his career for the better part of a decade, later played a leading role in the development of Apple’s now-famous brand elegance and simplicity. Though I’m no Steve Jobs, a similar clash of fate and passionate self-interest created some of the most significant developments of my career and personal life.
Here’s the abridged version of the story. For 15 years, beginning in high school, I studied Spanish. Not consecutively — there were breaks — but I took classes in college, then continuing education classes at night after graduation, and finally I hired personal tutors. I bought and read books, listened to audio tape lectures, watched Spanish language TV and movies, and even dabbled in software programs.
Though I grew up in a household and in neighborhoods with very little exposure to Spanish language or Hispanic culture, I developed a personal interest based on my love of geography. When I got older, traveling throughout Latin America and Spain intensified my passions. Despite being terrible at picking up the subtleties of dialects, I vowed that I would one day speak Spanish fluently.
Many of my friends and coworkers knew this about me. It wasn’t important but it was recognized, sometimes with a casual joke from someone who jumped into my car and heard the radio blasting musica ranchera from the local Mexican stations.
One day by chance the company where I was working began to pursue an acquisition of a smaller company in Argentina. Knowing my interests, they approached me about visiting the country and using my Spanish skills to help with the negotiations. Fast forward a couple years and there I was living in Buenos Aires (with a work visa and legal residency!) helping build a startup content company into a Latin American powerhouse.
The story doesn’t end there. I made many friends, learned new customs and enjoyed wonderful experiences from my years living overseas. But I also met a girl, who later became my wife. We bought some land in Argentina, I knocked her up, and some day we hope to take our kids on trips to see their grandparents in the Southern Hemisphere.
In other words, the entire trajectory of my life and future was shaped by one simple choice — to doggedly pursue a side passion.
None of this would have happened if I hadn’t taken Spanish classes, on my own volition, in my personal time, and for reasons that can only be attributed to curiosity. It required money, commitment and self-discipline. It meant doing the mundane, day after day, to build up a skill, with no obvious incentive aside from personal satisfaction. It was worth it.
Obviously, there are any number of ways that my life to this point could have turned out based on my decisions. But the lesson I take is that we can influence fate to the degree that we are willing to work toward it. We may not be able to predict or decide exactly the way things will happen, but if we dedicate ourselves to working hard and doing what feels right — even when no one’s looking or paying us for our efforts — eventually there will be compensation. In some form or another.
A little faith helps, too. You just have to believe that everything will eventually work out. I take comfort in knowing that many wiser, smarter, more talented people before me felt the same way. That’s why the old quote “the harder I work, the luckier I get” is anonymous. Because coming strong day after day, even in pursuit of a seemingly trivial personal goal, is the accepted creed of successful people, and the secret ingredient in making vision become reality.
And after all, it worked for Draper Daniels.