Part VI: Getting It

There’s this trend I have noticed with us newbies here at Butler/Till. For the first few months, we work on everything that is thrown at us. We order billboards, we send traffic, and we reconcile invoices. We don’t know why we are doing these things, but our supervisor tells us to, so we do it. And then…about 3 months in, it happens: we “get it”.

During my first week at BT, I was directed to request media kits from dozens of vendors for FSIs. I had a vague idea as to what I was doing this for, but I was so focused on getting it done that I didn’t really take the “why” into consideration. Over the next few months, I completed each of my day-to-day tasks in the same way. I came into work and did as I was asked – but because I didn’t ask “why,” I never really understood my place and beyond the direction I was given, I was clueless!

That whole “not knowing everything” thing was not good for me. It frustrated me to no end. So one afternoon, I blocked off an hour to just figure it out.

How did I figure it out? I started with the client that I work on. I wrote out everything that I knew about the campaigns, the tactics, the nuances, everything. Then, I thought about my role. How do I help accomplish everything in the big picture? I made a list of my top 5 tasks and applied them to each of my client’s campaigns. After understanding the client, and my role within the campaigns, everything started to make more sense. That was the moment: when I (FINALLY) “Got it.” All it took was some time, experience, and reflection.

Ever since then, I have found a lot more meaning in what I do every day. I appreciate the day-to-day stuff because I know how it relates to the big picture. I recommend you take a step back from your day-to-day and ask, “Why?” Asking not only helps you to “get it,” it can also lead to process improvement, self improvement, and just general greatness.

—Kelley Longyear