Yes, Your Work Matters. Yes, Even Yours
A young man recently contacted me via social media with a profound question. He stumbled upon a video clip from our Meaning Over Money podcast where I talked about how all work matters because it adds value to others. When he heard this, he started to question his own career choices. It's not because he hates his job.... it's the opposite, actually. And it's not because he doesn't make a decent living.... it's the opposite, actually. His pondering came from a place where he needed to know if his work actually adds value to others.
He's a video game streamer. Yes, he plays video games for a living. He plays while people watch him on the internet. He livestreams his play on Twitch and TikTok, and publishes the full videos on YouTube after the fact. He's 22 and made "around $200,000 last year."
What do you think? Does his work matter? Does it actually add value to people's lives? Do you believe what he does is silly and a waste of time? Do you feel like he's wasting his life away? Do you think it's ridiculous someone like him can generate nearly a quarter million dollars per year? If I were to survey each of you, I suspect there would be a wide array of answers. Answers ranging from "he's a loser" to "he's my new hero."
Here's what I told him. Of course his work is adding value to others. Otherwise, thousands of people wouldn't pay him to be a member of his community, and people wouldn't spend tens of thousands of hours watching his videos. At the heart of it, he's an entertainer. He's funny, engaging, and shockingly enjoyable to watch. He provides people with laughs and light-hearted content when they come home from a tough day. But it goes deeper than that. He's creating genuine community. Not just for himself, but for thousands of people who follow him. When you spend even a few minutes watching his channel, it's clear there's a core group of people who know and care about each other. He created that. He took an interest (video games), and widely available tools (his computer and a few social media platforms), and combined it with his gifts (humor, engagement, and empathy), to create something that matters. Something that adds value to our culture. Something that gives people a place to belong.
Yeah, his work matters. It sure does matter. It matters a ton to a lot of people. It doesn't matter what you or I think of his work. To the people he serves, he's adding a ton of value. His work matters. That's why it's his work, and not yours/mine. It's the beauty of work that matters. We each have the opportunity to carve our own path. This young man did it in his own unique way, and we each get to do the same.