I am getting older. But more importantly: I am bored...

Getting older is inevitable. But at 48 I don’t feel terribly old ( however, I take a bottle of ibuprofen wherever I go). I have collected good experiences and feel that I’m performing at the top of my intelectual capacity. The real problem though, is that I find my job (and this industry in general) insufferably boring. When I attend meetings and they start talking about the impact of social media, what other brands are doing in the category, etc. I have to make a monumental effort to keep my eyelids from closing . I feel that what I do is completely irrelevant and superficial. We are in the business of selling stuff so other people can make tons of money - and I get it: that provides me with a job, some financial security and the opportunity to give my family a decent life. But not having a sense of purpose in my professional life is taking its toll. The problem is not just age, but essentially, lack of fulfillment

Get a hobby or passion outside of work. Stop trying to find meaning in your day job, you will be disappointed in most any profession.

I’m guessing what drew you to the business was an ability to apply your talents toward helping brands communicate. And in the process communicating with others through ideas and your ability to visualize them. The lack of fulfillment comes from communication being less valued. At a time when everybody’s shouting and communication has never been less effective. Your talents and experience couldn’t be more desperately needed. What’s boring is the utter lack of imagination in a business more focused on short-term tactics and sophomoric thinking than enduring value and inspired ideas. So re-trench: take the best of all you know how to do and find ways meld it to the new inescapable realities of apps, UX, digital ads and social media. A layout is just a form of Information Architecture, after all. Younger people cannot do this; they don’t have the context or the experience from the time when advertising meant something. Find ways to apply your skills and desires to the ways brands and people communicate today and the fulfillment and focus will have room to return.

Start working with AI, data modeling and read everything you can about the future of IoT. Super interesting and will futureproof your career

It would have to be for a pharma corporation that is truly responsible and ethical - which is hard to find. A lot of pharmaceutical advertising is based either on fear, overpromises or the suggestion of issues that people might not even have. “Talk to your Dr. about ( place here the name of a medication that sounds like a foreign female name)

I can already hear the groans, but that’s exactly why so many people find pharma as an answer. Even young people right out of college are coming into advertising looking to do something that might actually help somebody. But if you’re one of the many who feels drug companies are the anti-Christ, well I can’t help you.

I’m bored too but what keeps me interested is tracking my savings and reading about investing and retiring early

Bored with what? Clients? The type of agency? The people you work with? Bored translates into you’ve lost interest. That can come from a million things. I’m starting to realize work is work is work. Dont care if its healthcare or not. We all schlep stuff. The people u work with becomes increasingly important