How to enjoy the dull parts of your job
Readtime: 4 minutes
I saw a talk by the designer Paul Smith several years ago.
He spoke about how he loved making bright pink suits.
But if you go into a Paul Smith shop, you’ll hardly see any.
Why?
Because most people don’t buy bright pink suits.
He said most people prefer navy.
And if I look at my wardrobe, he’s right.
So why was he talking about bright pink suits?
He made the point that while he loved making the pink suits, they didn’t pay the bills.
The pink suits did get critical acclaim at fashion shows, but again, most of us don’t wear what’s on the catwalk.
So, he devised an incredibly effective solution for both him and his customers. And we can apply the same easy principle to make our work more enjoyable.
Paul’s solution
We might like the idea of wearing the bright pink suit but in reality, we’re unlikely to have many opportunities to wear it. And it’s expensive.
So, instead we buy the navy suit, as we’ll get much more wear (and value) out of it.
But, here’s the important part, we still want to buy into the idea of the pink suit.
To cater to this desire, Paul added subtle, unique flourishes to the navy suits. For example, a bright pink lining or a uniquely coloured button on the cuff. Enough to notice if you look closely, but not overpowering.
And as a result, Paul Smith became known for ‘classics with a twist’.
Or as Paul puts it himself:
“I take ingredients from upper-class tailoring, hand-made suits and so on, and bring them together with something silly.”
We get something we can actually wear, but we also have a little bit of that more extravagant lifestyle.
Why this works
In the talk, Paul explained that this works for him because far more people actually buy these navy suits than they do the bright pink suits.
That means the company makes money, so that he can then afford to have a few of the wilder designs in the collection. These sell, but nowhere near in the same numbers; he wouldn’t be able to sustain the business on these wilder designs alone.
And because the navy suits do still have a subtle flair to them, he’s staying true to some of his original design ideas.
Paul can do the thing he loves – designing the bright pink suits – but in order to do that he has to do something he’s less keen on – designing the navy suits. But he has made designing the navy suits much more enjoyable for him.
What can we do?
So, we sometimes have to do things that we don’t like to pay the bills. In order to have the pink, we have to have the navy.
Recognising this can help us be happier and more fulfilled when dealing with the navy.
But we can also find ways to make these things more enjoyable.
The first step is to identify your ‘pink suits’ – those things you love to do at work. These are likely to be aligned to the ‘purpose’ you get from your work.
Next, consider whether your job would be sustainable if it was solely comprised of those things.
Any then consider whether it would be as enjoyable. Maybe it would be too much of a good thing? Most of us like variety in what we do.
Once we’ve got this perspective on the ‘pink suits’, we can identify what it is about those activities that we really enjoy. While the specifics will vary, there will be some core themes. For example:
Personal development, Building relationships, Problem solving, Administrating, Helping others, Researching, Negotiating, Influencing, Socialising, Reviewing, Improving, Designing, Managing, Analysing, Planning, Teaching, Deciding, Creating
Next, we want to identify how we can incorporate more of the specific theme we want more of into our ‘navy suit’ work.
For example, if you love the creative aspect of your work ('Creating'), but your role mostly involves data analysis ('Analysing'), you can look for ways to bring creativity into how you present your data findings. This could be through innovative visualisation techniques, writing engaging narratives around the data, or developing new ways to interpret complex datasets.
If 'Teaching' is your passion, but your job is primarily in management ('Managing'), consider coaching junior team members, leading workshops, or sharing your expertise through internal presentations.
If improving and streamlining processes is your thing ('Improving'), but your role is largely administrative ‘(Administrating’) you could identify areas for efficiency gains in the current processes. This might involve reorganising a digital filing system for easier access, proposing new ways to reduce time spent on meetings, or simplifying communication channels within the team.
Or, if 'Negotiating' is what gets you going, but your day-to-day is filled with 'Planning' or 'Reviewing', look for opportunities to negotiate project terms, resources, or timelines.
By finding ways to integrate the enjoyable elements from your ‘pink suits’ into your 'navy suits', you can be happier and more fulfilled at work.
A pro tip is to integrate your 'pink suit' elements so effectively that people instantly recognise your unique touch in your work.
That’s it!
In summary
Congratulations, you now know more about Paul Smith than you might have wanted to, but more importantly you also have a way to inject more of what you enjoy into your work.
On a personal note
As you may have picked up, I’m a bit of a fan of Paul Smith. He built his business starting with £600 in 1970 and built it into a business turning over more than £200m, with no external financing.
His wife and the MD of the business sold their shares in 2006 to a Japanese trading company, but Paul retains a majority stake and control.
I suspect Paul and his wife are doing ok from her share sale and his dividends. However, what I find interesting is that his love of designing, and being in control of that, seems to have overridden any instinct to cash in for a massive pay day. I wonder whether most of us would do the same.
He must really love designing those pink suits.
One quote to get you going
“In order for me to do this, I have to do a little bit of that.”
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